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THE 

NEW YORK STATE 

TOURIST. 

OF THE 

HUDSON, MOHAWK, & St. LAWRENCE 
RIVERS. 




FALLS, LAKES, MOUNTAINS, SPRINGS, 
RAIL ROADS AND CANALS. 

WITH MAPS AND VIEWS. 




NEW- YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY A. T. GOODRICH, 
1842. 



f 

'f 



/ Entered according to the Act of Congress, 

in the year 1842, by 
A. T. GOODRICH, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Southern District of New-York. 



ft 

-/ 



ROUTES IN NEW-TORE, 

TO THE 

SPRINGS, LAKES, FALLS, MOUNTAINS, 

HUDSON RIVER, &c. 



Tlie Hudson River. 

The sources of this river are in 44° N. latitude, in 
a series of lakes in Essex and Hamilton counties, 
in the mountainous and unfrequented region between 
Lake Champlain, the Mohawk River, St. Lawrence 
River, apd Lake Ontario. The main or north branch, 
rises 30 miles N. W. from Crown Point ; the Saconda- 
ga, or west branch, rises 30 to 40 miles W. of Lake 
George, and both branches unite on the eastern side 
of Saratoga county, in the town of Hadley, near the 
celebrated falls of that name. From thence, the course 
is southerly for a few miles, and then east, to Glen's 
Falls, beyond which it turns south, and pursues a course 
varying but little from N. to S. nearly all the distance 
to the ocean, from which circumstance it derives its 
usual, but incorrect appellation of the North River. 

In many points of view, it may be considered one of 
the most important streams in the world for its extent, 
and only, if at all, inferior in usefulness to the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers, but superior to them for steam- 



4 Hudson River. 

boat navigation, viz. in the most remarkable circum- 
stance, (and exclusively characteristic of the Hudson 
River from every other stream in this country) — its 
penetrating through the chain of highlands, and being 
affected by the tides as far as Troy, 160 miles north, 
thus carrying the oceanic influence far into the interior, 
and yielding the greatest facilities to commerce. 

The depth of water is sufficient for ship navigation 
as far as Hudson ; and beyond that, for sloops and 
steamboats to Albany and Troy. It is closed by ice 
from the 10th or 20th of December to about the 10th of 
March, with occasional exceptions ; but the harbour 
and bay of New-York are always open, so that vessels 
can enter and depart at any period of the winter, while 
the harbours of Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, 
are entirely closed for weeks. This is one of the prin- 
cipal causes of the preference given to New- York, as 
a sea-port, beyond any other on this coast, except New- 
port. Ships, with a fair wind and tide, can get to sea 
in one hour and thirty minutes after leaving the wharf ; 
the distance from the city by ship channel to Sandy 
Hook light-house being only 18 miles. 

The width of the river for 25 miles N. from New- 
York, is about one mile, bounded on the West by pre- 
cipices of trap or green stone, from 200, and rising 
gradually to 500 feet in height. Beyond these, there 
is an expansion of the river to the width of 4 miles, called 
Tappan and Haverstraw bays, with the mountains on 
the western shore rising boldly to 700 feet in height. 

The traveller then enters into the romantic region of 
the highlands, where the river is contracted into nar- 
rower limits, but is of greater depth, and the mountains 
rise on both sides with abruptness from nine to sixteen 
hundred feet in height. At West Point, the river turns 
suddenly, at right angles to its previous course, and 
soon displays an opening between the mountains on the 
north, beyond which the country subsides into a fertile 
but hilly region, which continues for a hundred miles, 



Hudson River. 5 

with a noble view of the Catskill, or spur of the Alle- 
gany Mountains, at the distance of 8 or 10 miles. 

Such are the attractions possessed by this noble riv- 
er, that it annually allures thousands of strangers; and 
this, in connection with the canal navigation, the sum- 
mer visiters to the Springs, the Lakes, and to the Falls 
of Niagara, causes the sum of one or more millions of 
dollars to be expended in this state every year, and 
forms a very considerable item in the prosperity and 
resources of the city and country. 

The Hudson River in connection with Lake Cham- 
plain, has always been the great highway to Canada, 
and the path or channel of military enterprise. 

There are 15 to 20 steamboats, of various sizes, ply- 
ing from New-York to Albany, and other places on the 
river ; their passage to Albany is now effected in 10 
to 12 hours ! 

There are several falls on the river, viz. — Baker's 
Falls, Glenn's Falls, Hadley Falls, & others of less note. 
The sources of the river have never been fully survey - 
ed ; but the granitic region thereabouts undoubtedly 
contains many fine landscapes and scenes that will soon 
be better known. Its entire length may be estimated 
at 300 miles. Its only tributary stream of any magni- 
tude is the Mohawk River, that rises 120 miles distant, 
in the county of Oneida, and falls in from the west at 
Waterford. On this are the Cohoes Fails, and the Little 
Falls ; and on West Canada Creek, emptying into the 
Mohawk, are the celebrated Trenton Falls, that deserv- 
edly rank high in public estimation. 

As a navigable arm of the sea, and the chief cause 
of the prosperity of this great metropolis, the Hudson 
River cannot be too highly estimated ; and when view- 
ed as the connecting means of our great system of in- 
land navigation, and with the Lakes, from Buffalo to 
Detroit, Michilimackinac, Green Bay, Chicago, (and we 
soon may be enabled to say, through the Illinois River 
to St. Louis and New-Orleans, and also by a canal 
round the Sault St. Mary with the distant shores of 
1* 



6 Henry Hudson. 

Lake Superior,) we can hardly appreciate the extent of 
inland trade that may, at no distant day, visit this com- 
mercial metropolis of the United States. 



Henry: Hudson. 

Little is known of the eventful life of the celebrated 
navigator Henry Hudson, except that he was an Eng- 
lishman, born in 1569, of good education, and an expe- 
rienced and bold seaman. He early entered into a mar- 
itime life, and soon attained a distinguished rank in 
his profession. He resided in London, and had a family ; 
and his only son, a youth of great promise, shared with 
him in all his perils. His first voyage of discovery was 
in 1607, when he sailed from Gravesend to the coast of 
Greenland, and made important discoveries, and return- 
ed in safety. The next year he made a voyage to the 
northern regions. Both of the foregoing voyages were 
made by him in the employment of a company of mer- 
chants at London ; but they not wishing his services any 
longer, Hudson went to Holland, and entered into the 
service of the Dutch East India Company, who provided 
him with a small ship called the Half Moon, and a crew 
of 20 men. He left Amsterdam on the 4th of April, 
1609, and after sailing along the coast of America, and 
touching in different places, he entered the bay inside 
of Sandy Hook, on the 3d of September, and devoted 
one month to the exploring of the coast in the vicinity, 
and in ascending the river that bears his name. His 
narrative is full of interest, and his voyage and adven- 
tures up the river, and his intercourse with the natives, 
are told in a faithful and descriptive manner, but our 
limits will not admit of any minute details. The rea- 
der that is desirous of farther information on this sub- 
ject, is referred to the eloquent description in Moulton's 
History of this State. 

The island of Manhattan, at that period, presented 
a wild and rough aspect : a thick forest covered those 



Sr.-dV. 




KW -YORK, \ 

and Ari 




Hobdken and New- York. 7 

parts of it where vegetation could find support ; its 
beach was broken and rocky, and had several inlets ; 
the interior was hilly, with occasional rocks, swamps, 
and ponds. All traces of this roughness have long since 
disappeared from the southern part of the island, where 
the city is now built, and great inroads have been made 
on all sides into the waters of the harbour ; but to the 
curious, a lively idea may still be given of what was 
formerly the appearance on the city's site, by examin- 
ing the interior of the island, 5 or 6 miles north, on the 
middle road, or the 3d and 8th avenues, especially the 
latter, and also on the banks of the Hudson and East 
Rivers, by which may be discovered the immense labour 
and expense that have been bestowed by preceding 
generations, in altering the natural appearance of this 
island. 

Hudson, on his return, was forced to put into England 
by his crew, of whom a part were natives of that coun- 
try ; and he subsequently perished on a voyage to the 
great bay that bears his name, by the mutiny of some 
of his sailors. 



Excursion up the Hudson Rivea*. 

Q^ leaving the city in any of the steamboats for the 
north, the traveller for pleasure should, if on his first 
trip, by all means prefer the morning boats, at 7 A. M. ; 
for the sake of enjoying the splendid scenery in perfec- 
tion, and select on the upper deck a suitable position 
near the after part of the boat, and facing to the north, 
so as to"giance readily at objects that may attract his 
attention on either shore. 

For twenty-five miles after leaving New- York the 
river is very near one mile in width, and then for the 
next twenty, expands to three or four times that width 
before entering the portals of the Highlands. 

In passing by fifteen streets from Courtlandt-street, 
or twelve from Barclay-street, we are opposite the ex- 



8 New-York and Weehawken. 

tensive steam-engine shops of Kemble and Gouverneur, 
and the lofty spire seen a short distance in the rear is 
that of St. John's Church, that faces on Hudson-square, 
one of the few that ornament the city. 

The sixth street beyond, as we proceed, is Canal-st. . 
leading into the heart of the metropolis ; and opposite 
we see, on the west side of the Hudson River, a mile 
above Jersey city or Powles Hook, (where the rail-road 
begins leading to Newark and intermediate cities _Jo 
Philadelphia,) the village of Hoboken, with its green 
lawns, shady recesses, and embowered walks leading 
along the shore to and beyond the seat of the Stevens 
family, of celebrated memory in the history of American 
steamboats. The family mansion is seen on the sum- 
mit of the rocky knoll ; and the surrounding and em- 
bellished grounds have a bold front of a mile on the 
river, carefully protected by stone embankment ; the 
artificial and shaded winding walks are gratuitously 
thrown open to the public by the liberal and enlightened 
proprietor, 'in their whole extent of unrivalled beauty. 
Mr. S. is also the one on whom the mantle of Fulton 
may be said to have fallen, and his countrymen have 
already witnessed and enjoyed the fruits of his invent- 
ive genius. 

In the rear of the low grounds that environ Mr. Ste- 
vens' property on the west, is the village of West Hobo- 
ken, that, from its elevated and prominent situation on 
the brow of the Bergen ridge, commands a fine view of 
the city, harbour, and surrounding country. The Bea- 
con Race- Course is on the hill to the south of the ad- 
joining wood. The ridge rises rapidly as it extends to 
the north, and sweeps forward in a bold and graceful 
curve towards the Hudson at Weehawken, were com- 
mences the remarkable ridge of trap-rock, the Pali- 
sades. 

Ten streets or blocks north of Canal-street, we pass 
a massive looking building with a dome or observatory, 
and a semi-circular colonnade to the south entrance, 
being a moiety of the Old State Prison, now altered and 



New- York and Weehawken. 9 

improved, and used for public or benevolent purposes, 
the property of a wealthy citizen, Mr. L. 

If far enough out towards the middle of the stream, 
we can discern, in passing the front of the city, the 
towering and castellated summits of the New-York 
University, that is situated several blocks towards the 
interior of the city facing on Washington-square ; and 
also the domes of the two reservoirs of water in 13th 
street, near Union-square. 

After passing fourteen more streets or blocks, we no- 
tice the tall chimney of the Manhattan Gas Works, 
ninety feet high, and on the third and fourth blocks be- 
yond, the handsome gothic spire and episcopal church 
of St. Peters, and the Episcopal Theological Seminary, 
and the insulated mansion of Clement Moore, Esq., to- 
gether with many other comfortable residences of weal- 
thy citizens on the northern confines of the city ; and 
in twelve more block we pass the New- York Chemical 
Works, and the Asylum for the Blind on the 8th and 
9th Avenues, on an elevation back from the river. The 
Timber Basin for enclosing floating logs and rafts pro- 
jects out awkwardly between 36th and 45th streets, and 
we are now fairly beyond the outskirts of the great 
metropolis, and must again glance our eye to the west- 
ern shore. 

The spacious stone mansions that surmount the brow 
of the beginning of the Palisades, are the country resi- 
dences of James G. King, Brown, and J. W.Leavitt, 

Esqs., and occupy the most commanding sites in the 
vicinity of New- York, looking forth on the river below, 
the city and harbour, and through the Narrows to the 
Atlantic Ocean. There are several neat villas of less 
pretension exhibited along the summit ridge as we 
continue on, and others at the foot, or on the slope, or 
curiously nestled in ravines in close proximity to mass- 
es of rock that impend over or surround them. Just 
before arriving at Bull's Ferry we see on the summit 
the mansion of William Cooper, Esq., an eminent natu- 
ralist, and one of the founders of the Lyceum of Natu- 



10 Fort Washington and Fort Lee. 

ral History of New- York. On the opposite shore, ob- 
serve the new building, the Orphan Asylum, removed 
to this beautiful site from its former location in Green- 
wich. 

Many strikingly beautiful country seats of wealthy 
and comfortable citizens present themselves in agreea- 
ble succession for ten miles on the eastern or New- 
York side of the river. The narrowest pass on the 
Hudson below the Highlands is the rocky and acute 
projection beneath Fort Washington, and nearly oppo- 
site to Fort Lee. A large body of American troops in 
1777 were embodied near the city of New- York, when 
it was captured by the British army after the battle on 
Long-Island, when our army was withdrawn, and a 
force of two or three thousand of American militia, was 
left to defend the weak and straggling lines that had 
been erected on and around the brow of the hill of 
Mount Washington, but they were incapable of a pro- 
longed defence ; the Hessians advanced from the east 
or Harlaem side in overpowering numbers, and carried 
the works at the point of the bayonet ; the retreat of 
the Americans being cut off in every direction, they 
were slaughtered in cold blood by the foreign merce- 
naries, or held in captivity during the war on board the 
noted prison-ship in the Wallaboght, where hundreds 
fell victims to suffering and disease. There are very 
slight remains to be seen of these revolutionary field- 
works. The writer has often trod upon the hallowed 
spot before the erection of the present showy, gay, and 
jaunty-looking mansions that are now seen there, one 
of them on the side-slope, being an hotel. The view 
from the crown of the hill extends for twenty miles up, 
and the same down the river ; and eastward to Long- 
Island Sound and the Hempstead hills, the elevation is 
238 feet ; the height of the opposite cliffs at Fort Lee 
landing is 311 feet. The latter is an admired place of 
resort, and is fast gaining upon the knowledge and good 
will of the worthy citizens that venture thus far in the 
steamboat, and ascend to the summit of the noble bluff, 



Summit of the Palisades. 11 

and look around and beneath them. Perchance they 
stray a few miles, or lounge along near the brow of 
this lovely terrace, that as yet remains in all its pristine 
wildness and beauty. Long may it thus continue. A 
path leads along the summit of this noble terrace, on 
a smooth green sward, winding among evergreens and 
oaks mile after mile, now approaching to the edge of 
the precipice, and from salient angles exhibiting a se- 
ries of bird's eye, profile, and plunging views, down and 
along this immense and irregular wall of trap-rock ; 
after recoiling from the startling and sudden view of 
the abyss, we are led onward, by a succession of these 
wonderfully fine views that enchain the admiration of 
the artist and the lover of the grand works of Nature, 
and can follow this path near the very brink for fifteen 
and twenty miles, and find the scene perpetually chang- 
ing and presenting some new and striking feature of 
sublimity. Occasionally some rapid brawling stream 
or slight gurgling brook will dash along the path, and 
leap over the steep descent, but no serious impediment 
is thus presented to the active pedestrian in this pro- 
longed ramble, but rather an additional excitement and 
pleasure. 

The face of the summit is sufficiently clothed with a 
variety of forest trees, shrubbery, and flowers, to delight 
and amuse the botanist ; the rocks here and there pro- 
trude through the surface of the soil, where the water 
courses and exposure to the rough and beating storms 
from the north-east have worn down to the hard and 
solid rock ; yet good farms and rich gardens are found 
spread over its surface, on various slopes, away from the 
edge of the eastern face, and threading our way over 
the hill now ascending or descending, we find in a mile 
or two to the west, clearings admitting an extensive 
view over the distant borders of the Hackensack, and 
an admirable aerial perspective through the blue vapour 
to the chain of hills in the interior of New-Jersey. 

The Asylum for Lunatics at Manhattanville occupies 
a commanding position a few rods from the east bank 



12 YoJikers. 

of the river, and has seventy acres "of ground annexed, 
with ample range for the inmates about the lawns, gar- 
dens, and pleasure-grounds. The leading principle of 
the system of management being of the most im- 
proved and humane description, and thus far with the 
happiest effect. The State of New-York has made 
liberal donations to this institution. For a full descrip- 
tion of this and other public buildings in the metropo- 
lis, see the Picture of New- York and Stranger's Guide, 
by Goodrich. 

Beyond the ruins of Fort Washington the heights of 
Harlsem are seen to skirt upon the river, and to trend 
away to the south-east along the southern side of the 
Spuyten Duyvel, or the inlet from Hurlgate to the Hud- 
son, that insulates the island of Manhattan from the 
main, and that is crossed, at or near its eastern extre- 
mity, by a wooden bridge, at the termination of the 
Third Avenue and the viaduct leading from the Har- 
leem rail-road to Albany, and also by the aqueduct from 
the Croton River, from whence the water is led down 
near the river road, along the height of land, for forty 
miles, and comes out opposite Harlasm heights, at 114 
feet above tide water. This costly work is destined to 
last for ages, and to be of immense importance to the 
health and welfare of the city, and the total expense 
twelve million of dollars. The various excavations, 
tunnels, arches, embankments, superstructures, &c. are 
highly worthy of the minute examination of every 
stranger and curious visiter, and for full particulars 
reference may be had to the Picture of New- York as 
before mentioned. 



Pliillipslmrgli, or Yonker§, 

Seventeen miles from New- York, at the mouth of a 
small stream called the Sawmill River, next occurs on 
the east shore, and as it is deeply nestled in the vale, 
the stranger will be apt to overlook it, unless the boat 



Facade of the Palisades. 13 

should hug the shore on that side. The spire of the 
village church, peering up from amid the trees, and 
ruling over the quietness and seclusion of the old Dutch 
settlement, with its waterfall, mills, and comfortable 
abodes, neat lawns and gardens, is quite a picture ; 
but if the boat keep too far out in the stream, as usual, 
much of this effect and feeling is lost ; but if the trav- 
eller will, at this spot, direct his attention to the line of 
the Palisades on the opposite or west shore, he will be- 
hold the highest part of the range 517 to 550 feet high ; 
the summit even and regular as the cornice of a house, 
the entire facade like the ruins of an ancient feudal 
castle, ornamented with the moss and hue of antiquity. 
The next hundred years will present, on the crowning 
ridge of the majestic Palisades, one of the most impo- 
sing assemblages of elegant and substantial mansions 
that the world can display, and will be a # suitable 
finish to such a commanding elevation. Our prophecy 
is already begun to be fulfilled in part, twenty miles 
below, at Bergen, Hoboken, and Weehawken. 

Taking a retrospective profile view of the west shore 
when approaching the termination where the precipice 
subsides opposite Dobb's Ferry Landing, or Hastings or 
Greenbush, the singular effect will be noticed that is 
produced by the gradual diminution of the height from 
north to south, adding to and distorting the regular 
perspective effect agreeable to the laws of vision — but 
the vista, nevertheless, is grand and unrivalled ; and 
when viewed in various aspects, in the bright morning 
sun, or the coming shadows of evening, or tipt or 
shrouded with mist, or in the mild effulgence of the 
full orbed moon, new sources of beauty are noticed and 
elicited, equally gratifying and surprising to the ob- 
server of the picturesque in nature. 

This rugged looking mass of rock, that seems to defy 
the thought of scaling its frowning and severe walls, 
may be ascended in a few places ; and at Closter land- 
ing, opposite Phillipsburgh, a country road exists and 
extends up by several zig-zag and sharp turns, and as- 



14 Tappan — W. Irving. 

cends to the summit level and leads to the secluded 
valley on the western slope of the English (Dutch) 
Neighbourhood along the Hackensack River. 

The boundary line of New- York and New-Jersey 
strikes off to the N. W. from about the highest place 
of the Palisade range ; and from the first dock north, a 
path branches to the left, or south, by which the pedes- 
trian may, by following for a mile or two, reach the 
summit of the hill, panting with his exertion, and be 
fully rewarded by the panoramic scene before him. 

At about 22 miles from New- York we enter upon 
the first change in the usual width of the Hudson 
River : the shores recede on each side, and leave an 
expansion three miles broad, known by the high sound- 
ing name of the Tappan Sea, and especially commend- 
ed to the notice of the traveller from historical and lite- 
rary associations. The fields on each border of the 
river, especially on the east, in the county of West 
Chester, were the neutral ground, or scene of border 
operations during the American war, when the enemy 
held possession of New- York, and sent out their forag- 
ing and marauding parties ; and the tale of many a 
border story and feat of arms is associated with the 
hills and valleys around the range of our view, this be- 
ing a hazardous region for both parties, and more par- 
ticularly for whig and tory militia and cow-boys. Spies 
were employed on both sides, and when caught, as 
Major Andre had the ill luck to be, near the village 
here in plain sight on the east, called Tarry town, and 
carried over the river to Tappan, about three miles up 
the hill west of the landing, and hung ; it was no more 
than the fortune of war, and to be expected by all that 
ventured on such a graceless employment. 

The literary reminiscences alluded to are of more re- 
cent origin, and of a much more ageeable character, 
being the emanations of the popular American author, 
Washington Irving. His country seat is appropriately 
and judiciously placed near the margin of the Hudson, 
and amid the very scenes immortalized in portions of 



Nyack — Sing- Sing — Croton. 15 

his most fascetious Knickerbocker and his inimitable 
Sketch Book. His villa is on the east side of the river, 
about 25 miles from New- York, and may be pointed out 
to the eager eyes of the inquisitive traveller as of mode- 
rate dimensions, and with queer gables in the Dutch 
style, with a neat lawn and grounds environing it, 
and is within a short distance of Tarrytown, and of the 
Dutch Church, bridge, and pond, in the valley of Sleepy- 
hollow, of Ichabod Crane memory. 

The great rail-road projected from the Hudson River 
to Lake Erie, will commence at the landing at the west 
side the Slote, a mile above the Palisades, and follow 
the ravine up to the west and north-west, near the bor- 
der line of New-Jersey. 



IVyaclt, 

twenty five miles from New- York, the next village north 
of Tappan, has a landing, and a road that leads over the 
mountain to the interior of Rockland county. The red 
sand-stone was formerly quarried in abundance in this 
vicinity for the city market, until the eastern granite and 
the marble of West Chester county supplanted it in the 
favour of the public. The large State Prison at Sing- 
Sing, on the immediate bank of the river, on the east 
shore, is an extensive construction of the marble above 
alluded to and reared by the convicts, and is capable of 
celling or caging one thousand, side by side and tier on 
tier, like a hive of bees. The system of discipline here 
pursued is rigid, and exacting strict silence, severe la- 
bour, and solitary confinement at night. 



Croton River 

comes in about 2 miles above Sing-Sing, and supplies at 
times a considerable volume of water to the Hudson in 
the spring season. It rises in Putnam county, in the 



16 Vredidieke?' Mountain and Lake — Haverslraw Bay. 

Highlands east of the Hudson, near the Connecticut 
line, in Paterson, Kent, and South Eas. ; and has its 
sources in pure ponds in a granite region ; and after run- 
ning in a south-western direction for about forty miles 
through North Salem, Somers, Bedford, Yorktovvn and 
Cortlandt, what then remains of the water after a portion 
of it being diverted and taken offto supply the large res- 
ervoirs and thirsty population, and to cleanse the dusty 
streets of the great metropolis, forty miles below, falls 
into the noble Hudson at Teller's Point, and has there 
formed a mass of earth and stones, that the rapid freshets 
of the Croton have accumulated into a respectable 
isthmus or prolongation of land that intrudes out a 
mile from the east towards the western shore, and 
thus distinctly separates the Tappan from the Haver- 
straw bay. 



VreciMicker Hook, 

a bold headland that rises majestically from the water 
on the west shore, between the villages of Nyack and 
Haverstraw, is 668 feet in height, and stretches grace- 
fully out to meet the low land from the eastern shore, 
and forms a distinct point of demarcation between the 
upper and lower bays ; and the tourist will observe that 
each successive and prominent mass of rock on the 
western shore from the southern point of Bergen in New- 
Jersey, where it dips beneath the waves of the Kills, as 
we proceed up the Hudson, attains gradually a greater 
elevation, as will be seen as we proceed in our course 
through the Highlands and to the Cattskills, where 
" Alps on Alps arise," and thus prepares the astonished 
and delighted traveller by mild and successive gradations 
of increasing height, grandeur, and sublimity, for the 
more imposing and delightful scenes that will now soon 
be disclosed. 

On the Vredidicker mountain is a clear crystallake of 
three or four miles in circumference, that forms the 



Stony Point — Verplanck's Point. 17 

source of the Hackensack River, and although not 
more than a short mile from the Hudson, is elevated 
above it about two hundred and fifty feet, and if the 
traveller notices a depression of the ridge above at the 
first landing, after passing close beneath the Vredi- 
dicker mountain, with a steep road ascending the hilJ, he 
wiJl have the locality in view, as the lake is there in 
that direction ; and the pure clear Rockland ice that is 
supplied to the citizens of New- York, is produced at 
this spot, by the unmitigated and prolonged severity of 
the Siberian climate of this exposure ; and the deli- 
cious ice-creams and the wicked bowls of punch that arc 
consumed in New- York, owe their charms in a large 
degree to the reservoir of ice that is here cut out in 
huge blocks, and slid down to the level of the river be- 
low, and when the river breaks up, vast stores of this 
commodity are transported to the city. 

We now glide rapidly past the Vredidicker, into a 
second expansion of the Hudson, the Haverstraw Bay, 
of about the same size as the previous one that we have 
left behind us ; and our course, that, soon after leaving 
the city, had for twenty miles been nearly due north 
until we past the Palisades and the Sea of Tappan, now 
assumes, for the ensuing ten miles, a north-west direc- 
tion, and gives us leisure to cast a retrospective glance 
towards the smooth bay we have just left behind us, and 
the fast receding outlines of the distant Palisades, fa- 
ding into the dim blue haze of the horizon, with its 
beautiful aeriel tints ; our attention will now be direct- 
ed to the extensive panorama that surrounds us, to the 
singular crest and form of the mountain-top on the west 
shore, known as the High Torn, about eight hundred 
feet in height, (and a remarkable and distinct landmark 
even from as low down as Newark bay, and the hills of 
Staten Island and New-Jersey,) with the village of Ha- 
verstraw or Warren at the base, and the fine curved 
line of the shores and slopes of the hills on each side as 
we approach the landings of Grassy Point on the west, 
and Verplanck's on the east, and the light-house on 
2* 



18 Stony Point — Dunderberg Mountain. 

Stony Point opposite. This eminence is memorable 
for the bloody assault made upon it during the revolu- 
tionary war by Gen. Wayne and his brave American 
troops, that were detached for that purpose by Gen. 
Washington, from the forces at West Point, and after 
making a detour among the hills for twenty miles, ap- 
proached this post (then held by the enemy, and strong, 
ly fortified and manned,) and stealthily and in the pro- 
found silence and darkness of midnight, with fixed bayo- 
nets and unflinted guns, surprised the unwary sentinels 
and distant out-posts, advanced suddenly to the attack, 
cut down the pickets, entered and carried the works by 
a coup de main, without firing a gun, and made prison- 
ers of the garrison, sparing all that threw down their 
arms. The enemy also at the same time held posses- 
sion of the fort across the river at Verplanck's Point, 
and the next day a warm exchange of cannon balls took 
place, that resulted in the evacuation of Stony Point by 
the American troops that had so gallantly captured it ; 
as a much superior force of the enemy was advancing 
upon them, and it was useless to resist the combined 
attack that was preparing by the British force by land 
and water. The fort was demolished, and the military 
stores taken away : — thus it had alternately been taken 
originally from Wayne by the British, then recaptured 
by him, and again retaken by the enemy, and held du- 
ring the war. 

Having entered the portal?, and here rapidly drawing 
near the most interesting scenery of the Highlands, we 
recommend the traveller at this time, when abbut forty 
miles from New- York, for the sake of having an unob- 
structed view, to assume a position on the upper deck 
on the forward part, and to make a diligent use of his 
eyes in viewing the objects and leading features that 
pass in such rapid review. 

The Dunderberg, or Dunderbarrack, or Thunder 
mountain on the west, is nine hundred feet high, and 
ranges for several miles from south-west to north- 
east, and from its rounded and commanding summit, 



Dunderberg Mountain — Fort Clinton. 19 

is a very extensive view over the county of West- 
chester to Long Island Sound, and down the river and 
bays that we have passed, to the vicinity of New- York, 
and across the east side of the Hudson to Peekskill, and 
the mountains in Putnam county, and the summits 
around West Point. The village of Caldwell, or Gib- 
raltar, as sometimes called, is at the base of the moun- 
tain, and is usually the first landing place for the 
large Albany boats after leaving the city of New- York, 
and where the Peekskill passengers disembark. 

One that has never before ascended the Hudson 
River, would here be at a loss to conjecture from this 
position, as he looks around and is apparently embay- 
ed, in what direction to look for extrication from this 
cul de sac ; whether through the deep opening to the 
right, or the one in front leading through the vista in 
the mountains ; — after being kept in agreeable sus- 
pense for a few minutes while near the Caldwell land- 
ing, and gazing up at the stupendous elevation close at 
hand, that the steamer almost brushes or grazes in its 
panting and rapid course, the boat suddenly is directed 
to the left or west, round the acute point or angle 
that opens into the race, a short reach of the river, 
between the Dunderberg on the south, and St. Antho- 
ny's, the next point on the north. 

After advancing for a few minutes to the west, when 
near the Salisbury island, do not omit to observe the 
grandeur produced by the amphitheatrical slop? and 
termination of the Dunderberg mountain on the left, 
with its hardy covering of evergreen trees, pines 
or cedars, that here fills up an angle of several degrees 
j above the horizon as we pass within shadow of the re- 
flection in the deep water at its base ; or the towering 
| front of the Bare mountain, that here presents its ma- 
( jestic elevation on the west, of one thousand three hun- 
dred and fifty feet. Poloper's creek, a small mill stream, 
1 that has its origin a few miles in the interior of Rock- 
j land county, finds its way through the dark ravine down 
•to the base of the mountain, and forms a secluded 



20 Anthony's Nose. 

basin or harbour for the small river sloops that frequent 
the mills and landing to load with flour and wood. 

Each side of the creek on the crest of the hill, are the 
remains of two field-works, forts Clinton and Montgo- 
mery, erected during the war of the revolution, as a 
part of the system planned for the defence of the High- 
lands. In the affair that here transpired, October, 1777, 
several hundred men fell in the attack and defence of 
this mountain pass on the banks of the Hudson. Sir 
Henry Clinton led the attack, and destroyed the large 
boom and chain that cost seventy thousand pounds ster- 
ling, and another of less value at fort Constitution. 
This first massive boom and iron chain was extended 
across from the east to the west shore opposite to the 
point of St. Anthony, and under the guns of forts oppo- 
site, in the vain attempt to stop, or momentarily impede 
the progress of the large armed ships of the enemy, in. 
their advance up the river with troops to aid Burgoyne, 
and to burn the towns above. But this was money 
wasted on both sides, for the chain did not accom- 
plish its intention, although it cost an immense sum 
of money, and the union with Burgoyne was not ef- 
fected. 

The bloody affair in this mountain fastness resulted 
in the capture of the place by the enemy at the point of 
the bayonet, after the garrison of only six hundred 
men had made a gallant defence against a very su- 
perior force (three thousand) that came upon them 
unawares. 

It was upon this occasion that George Clinton, one 
of the officers in command, Governor of New- York, and 
subsequently Vice-President of the United States, suc- 
ceeded in making his escape in the dusk of eve in a 
boat, and his brother James also, though wounded, by 
plunging into the Hudson and swimming to the opposite 
shore. 

Anthony's Nose, on the right or east shore, that rears 
its much admired pyramidical-shaped mass of rocks to 
an elevation of eleven hundred and twenty eight feet, 



Buttermilk Falls — Sugar Loaf. 21 

at an angle estimated at forty five or fifty degrees from 
the level of the noble river that deeply skirts its base, 
and terminates the reach called the Race, introduces us 
to another of the lovely changes in the scenery of this 
famous region, when the traveller is enabled by the 
progress of the steamer to turn the sharp corner of the 
Saint's prominence, vulgarly called his nose, and thus, 
by a shifting of the scene, to behold another admirable 
vista of six or seven miles in extent, running nearly 
north and south, between mountains and ranges of 
pleasing variety and contour, especially the east or 
right hand shore, with the intervention of an island and 
a low green meadow on the left, to soften and harmo- 
nize the picture, aided by the rude log hut of the fish- 
erman or woodman, with just sufficiency of arable and 
grazing land at his command to enable him to exhibit 
an abortive attempt perhaps to raise his Indian corn, 
peas, and pumpkins. 

Beyond the island, and four miles from the race, we 
come to the flour mills at Buttermilk Falls; but as the 
truth of its name and Dutch cognomen depends entirely 
upon a bountiful supply of water, wasting and spreading 
over the smooth surface of a solid rock, and fretting 
itself into a fury and foam in its snowy descent, and as 
this requisite supply cannot always be spared, or allow- 
ed to stray and straggle away in this manner, from the 
undeniable requirements of the mill during a drought 
or dry long season of midsummer, merely to gratify the 
eyes of ladies and gentlemen that pass it for a minute or 
two in rapid review, it may be proper here to state, 
that though at certain times and seasons of the year it 
exhibits much beauty, and is a just object of admiration, 
yet at others the stream is dwindled to a mere rill, and 
the searcher after the picturesque and beautiful is lia- 
ble to be sadly disappointed, when nothing can be seen 
but the stains on the naked rock, the traces of its 
former ephemeral beauty. 

A more durable and enduring monument of nature, 
in the size, height, and form of the sugar loaf mountain, 



22 Fort Putnam. 

nearly opposite to Lydig's mills, or the Buttermilk 
Falls, is worthy of our notice as we get on, — its height 
is eight hundred and sixty feet, a little more than the 
famous pyramids of Egypt. As the traveller changes 
his position, and views this object on various sides 
and at different angles, the resemblance to a sugar 
loaf cannot always in such cases be detected, but it 
resembles much some of the bluffs on the Mississippi 
or Missouri. 

The mansion opposite the falls, and in the vicinity of 
the sugar loaf, is the property of Mr. Arden, as is also 
the hilly and wooded tract to a considerable extent 
around ; and at a very few rods in a southern direction, 
in a spot not visible to the traveller in passing on the 
river, is the memorable scene where Benedict Arnold 
held his secret and treasonable midnight interviews 
with the adjutant-general of the British army, to make 
his developements and unfold his plans to deliver up 
West Point, the American army and the nation, into 
the power of the enemy then our opponents ; the best 
details of these events may be found in the recent pub- 
lication of Spark's American Biography, in the sketch 
of Arnold ; it only remains for us to say, that the tragi- 
cal fate and denouement of an individual in the story 
has elicited too much mawkish sensibility towards one 
of the principal actors in this drama of the history of 
America. 

When at about fifty miles from New- York, we catch 
the first glimpse of the ruins of Fort Putnam, in a north- 
west direction, five hundred and ninety-eight feet above 
the river, peering over the brow of the hill on the 
left, and soon after, of the out- works and buildings at- 
tached to the United States military academy at West 
Point. The hospital, a substantial edifice of hewn stone, 
of two stories, with a front towards the river on the 
east, a piazza and wings, is the first indication of our 
proximity to this celebrated school, and of the principal 
edifices that soon begin to appear in part on the terrace, 
one hundred and eighty-eight feet above the river. 



Kosciusko's Garden. 23 

On the face of the hill beneath, may be pointed out 
the descent towards the garden of Kosciusko, the Polish 
patriot of our own revolution, in whose honour the ca- 
dets of this academy, in 1828, caused a neat and classical 
marble monument to be erected as a memorial of the 
gratitude of a nation for the sympathy of a foreigner of 
celebrity towards us, that also yielded his life in sup- 
port of our cause. This cenotaph stands out in bold re- 
lief before us, guarded by an iron railing, on the very 
verge of the precipitious hill, and near and amidst the 
remains of the revolutionary field-works erected by 
Gen. Putnam and the old continental army in 1776-7. 
The garden referred to, and the clear boiling spring 
near it, enclosed in a marble reservoir, with durable and 
ornamental steps leading down from the plain above, 
with an arrangement of benches on a projection of the 
rock for visiters, may be seen in passing by, but to 
more satisfaction by those landing at the point. 

The manner and style of natural adornment that is 
presented by the face of the grounds and rocks attached 
to this national domain, is in good taste in every respect, 
of art assisting nature, and in harmony and keeping 
throughout, and cannot fail to impress the traveller, 
when he observes the formation of the fantastic rocks, 
wild moss covered crags, luxuriantly-garlanded pillars 
and creeping shrubs, and the cottages and hamlets 
perched on the slopes, terraces, and crags, in most ad- 
mired confusion. The elegant mansion on the east 
side of the river was erected by Capt. Phillips, and is 
| one of the choicest sites on the Hudson, and commands 
, one of the finest panoramas in the United States, and is 
I now owned and occupied by Mr. Kemble. 

We have now arrived at the termination of the six 
j mile reach before referred to, and must stand prepared 
| to behold another magical transformation of the bewitch- 
! ing sceneiy of the river as the boat takes a sharp turn 
around the low rocky projection or reef on the west, 
j and unfolds one of the loveliest views in the world to 
i the enraptured gaze of the beholder. The lake-like 



24 West Point — Scenery. 

expansion of the river, with the steep front of the lofty 
mountain that here faces us, called the Crow's Nest, 
rising to the height of one thousand four hundred and 
eighteen feet, with a depression on its top for the nest, 
giving a fancied resemblance to the name it bears ; 
together with the general coup d'ceil of the mountains, 
and the entire panorama of lesser hills and rocky emi- 
nences or projections, completes the magnificent framing 
of ihis truly splendid landscape, that few can behold for 
the first time without a feeling of the most rapturous 
enjoyment. 

The boat comes to the landing at West Point and 
discharges and takes in passengers, and allows time 
enough for the passing traveller barely to see the capital 
hotel on the brow of the hill, and perchance to regret his 
inability to tarry there for a short period, and test the 
capabilities of the location and of the landlord, both, to 
our knowledge, of the first order of excellence ; the view 
from the observatory on the top of the hotel is peculiarly 
fine in all its parts, but especially on the north, looking 
down upon the Hudson and towards Newburgh, and the 
remote chain of Shawangunk mountains in the dim blue 
distance towards the northwest — the plain and level 
parade of West Point, and the arrangement of the pub- 
lic edifices for the two hundred and fifty cadets, and the 
private residences of the commanding officers and the 
professors, are beneath the eye. After the yearly ex- 
amination in June, the cadets are encamped on the plain 
for a certain period, when the drills and parades are 
worth seeing. The academy has been in existence 
since 1802, and is under congressional and executive 
patronage. 

Another of the booms and massive iron chains was 
also extended asross the river, from the south side to 
Constitution Island, that projects from the north shore ; 
the battered surface of the rock there is caused by the 
artillery or target firing for ball practice, and a few 
casualties that have occurred in the corps, are enumer- 
ated on the monumental tablet on the brow of the op- 



Highland Gusts —Cold Spring. 25 

posite hill on the west shore. A portion of the great 
chain as above mentioned is still to be seen with the 
revolutionary relics. The head quarters of General 
George Washington, while in this neighbourhood, were 
on the site of a building near an indentation of the shore, 
and at the water's edge, a little beyond the burying 
ground of the academy. 

In receding from, or advancing towards West Point, 
the finest panoramic view is beheld of all the public 
buildings on and around the plain, and also of the ruins 
of fort Putnam, still lording it over the plain and river 
below. 

The passage through the Highlands is sometimes 
perilous for sloop navigation, owing to the sudden and 
impetuous gusts or flaws of wind that come pouring 
down between the lofty hills and deep gorges and ra- 
vines, with hardly a moment's warning, even during the 
calm pleasant days of summer and other seasons, upset- 
ting the unwary mariner, and involving the crew and 
passengers in a watery grave. Such was the fate of the 
sloop Neptune, of Newburgh, on the twenty-third of 
November, 1824, near Cold Spring, when fifty-five per- 
sons were on board, twenty-six of whom perished in 
four minutes, and the sloop was engulfed in the pro- 
found abyss below. The dread of these rapid and pow- 
erful descents of air from the upper regions, down to the 
surface of the river, requires the exertion of the utmost 
vigilance on the part of the navigators of sloops and 
river craft, and it was only a few months since that a 
schooner heavily laden with coal was upset near West 
Point, and the vessel and all on board were engulfed in 
a moment. 

The village of Cold Spring is prettily situated in a 
cove or recession of the east bank of the Hudson, be- 
tween Constitution Island and Bull Hill, and has a good 
landing, and a road that leads to the interior of Putnam 
county, and to the road to Albany and New- York. The 
place is owned by the wealthy Mr. Kemble and others, 
and contains the elegant country seat of General Mor- 
3 



26 West Point Foundery. 

ris, editor of the New- York Mirror, also that of Mr. 
Kemble, the proprietor of the West Point foundry, that 
is here situated on a stream that has a heavy water 
power, flowing down from the hills in the vicinity, with 
a water-fall, immortalized by the feat and narration of 
Miss Fanny Kemble, see vol. 2d, p. 164. The foundry 
has two blast, three air, and three cupola furnaces, a 
boring-mill for heavy cannon, mortars, cylinders, lathes, 
an iron water wheel, thirty-six feet in diameter, besides 
a large establishment in Beach and Washington streets, 
in New- York, on the bank of the river, for constructing 
sugar mill works, steam engines, and machinery, fitting 
the same in steamboats, repairing, &c. ; employing 
several hundred workmen in the various branches, in 
both places. 

The boring of cannon is as follows : the solid mass of 
iron in the shape of 18, 24, 32 and 42 pounders, when 
cast, are solid, and weigh, perhaps, several tons, and 
are then firmly secured or arranged in horizontal pivots, 
and made to revolve rapidly like a turning lathe, by the 
immense water wheel connected with them, and the 
boring augur being applied to the proper end, it is sur- 
prising to see how easy and simple is the process, and 
how smooth and regular is the bore. Large contracts 
for cannon have been taken and made by this concern, 
with the United States government ; and the regular 
process for the trial and proving of the strength of each 
cannon is as follows : the pieces are arranged at inter- 
vals, heavily loaded, and double shotted, their muzzles 
pointed to a ridge of earth, or the target on the rock at 
the base of the mountain across the west side of the 
Hudson, and then fired in succession. The echo among 
these mountains is truly grand on such an occasion, and 
when a feu de joie, or salvo, is made, by discharging all 
the cannon simultaneously, the effect is really glorious, 
and seems like a mighty rushing wind or earthquake, 
shaking the very foundations of the earth. 

The writer of this was once passing by on board a 
sloop, and floating smoothly along with the tide past 



Bull, Break Neck, and Butler Hills. 27 

this spot, dnring a proof trial of the cannon at this foun- 
dry, when the moment we had barely cleared their 
range, whiz-z-z whistled a heavy cannon ball, passing 
within a few inches of our stern, and of the quiet chil- 
dren and passengers on deck, before even we heard the 
heavy bang of the discharge, or turned around and saw 
the smoke passing off in curling volumes ; this was on- 
ly done in sport, to test the accuracy of their aim, to see 
how near they could come to us without hitting ; this 
might have been sport to them, but not so to those on 
board at the time. If the least flaw or defect is seen in 
the cannon, the piece is rejected, much to the loss of 
the proprietors, that have to allow their manufactures to 
undergo this severe ordeal, before they will be accepted 
and paid for by the government. 

Bull Hill, on the east shore, is the next in course, 
and being 1,486 feet high, and containing, about mid- 
way between the base and summit, on a portion of the 
profile edge towards the river, a noted mass of rock re- 
sembling the human forehead, nose, mouth, and chin, 
with a tree projecting almost like a cigar or pipe, is 
never passed by the old voyagers and knowing ones 
without being pointed out to their wondering and amused 
friends, and one must be quick in observation at the 
time, and accurate in the direction of their eyesight, as 
the glimpse is but for a minute or two, and the rapid 
progress of a steamer soon takes you beyond the only 
point of view, when the illusion vanishes, and the fa- 
mous and veritable nose of St. Anthony, the presiding 
Dutch genius of the Hudson and Mohawk, is gone. 

Break Neck Hill, 1,181 feet high, is the last bluff' on 
the east or right shore in passing up the river, the high- 
est peak, 1,580, being a mile or so to the northeast, and 
seen when a few miles up nearer New burgh to the best 
advantage. 

Butter Hill, the last of the highland river range on 
the west, is 1,529 feet high, and as the boats usually 
keep nearer to the base of that mountain, it forms a 
more impressive and overwhelming sight to the traveller 



28 Putnam'' s Rock — Pollopell Island. 

than any other, from its immense and toppling masses 
of craggy rocks, and sweep of precipice, especially 
towards the south — the eagle is often seen seeking his 
eyrie amid these inaccessible and solitary positions, and 
watching, from his lofty post or alighting place, the fin- 
ny tribes beneath the waves. 

The curious rock found so beautifully perched on the 
summit of this mountain, and having the appearance at 
a distance of a lent or marquee, and that was so use- 
lessly and with so much trouble displaced by General 
Putnam in a rude vandal and wanton spirit of destruc- 
tion, merely to see it tumble headlong down the moun- 
tain to the water's edge, where it is said it is still to be 
seen, will never cease to be regretted by posterity as an 
act of wicked frivolity and wanton destruction totally 
irreparable, and only to be winked at or overlooked as 
an indiscreet act of a brave man, and his followers, or 
fellow-soldiers, but to be frowned upon and prevented at 
all future times, as should be all attempts to mar or dis- 
figure the curiosities or wonderful forms and arrange- 
ments of nature. Recently, the officers and crew of a 
British man-of-war, on the coast of Great Britain, un- 
dertook and parformed very much such an useless and 
disgraceful act, that, when known, met with such a gen- 
eral burst of indignation and disgust, that the British 
government instantly ordered the same crew and officers 
to replace the stone on the same foundation, although 
it was like the labours of Sisyphus. 

Having finished the Highlands, we pass a mass of 
rock near the channel called Pollopell Island, having 
the appearance of the top of a sunken mountain, and 
without any sign of human residence, or ownership, or 
occupation even by reptiles, though snakes are said to 
abound, but how they got there no one can tell, and 
few can stop to ascertain the fact. Like Snakehill in 
Newark meadows, it has this scare-crow rattle-snake 
celebrity, as far as we are cognizant, without the least 
cause whatever ; if any one doubts, let him laud and 
explore. 



New Windsor. 29 

The georgeous scene of the Highland passage being 
finished, the observant traveller will have a store of 
rich recollection and resplendent imagery treasured up 
in his mind and imagination, that will reward him in 
his future life when brought up in review, aided by his 
reading and reflections and other associations connected 
with the history of America. 

Cornwall and Canterbury are two villages and land- 
ings near the northern base of Butter Hill, and three to 
four miles from Newburgh, that are the first settlements 
that appear on the left when we leave the straits of the 
Highlands, and glide into the expansion of the Hudson, 
between Newburgh and Fishkill and New Windsor. 

Moodenen, or Murdencn, or Orange Kill, coming 
from the interior of Orange county, near Goshen, joins 
the Hudson between Canterbury and New Windsor, 
and is a considerable mountain and mill stream. 

New Windsor is a considerable landing-place, and 
has its sloops, docks, and regular steamboats plying to 
New- York daily, or two or three times a week, similar 
to all the towns on the river of any note, and here also 
is a humble looking old Dutch-like mansion near the 
south wharf, that was in 1774, for a time, the temporary 
head-quarters of Washington. 

There are neat residences on the northern slope of 
Butter Hill, also on the hill near the landing of New 
Windsor. The embowered abode on the opposite low 
shore, on a round beautifully wooded verdant spot, is the 
country seat of William Denning, Esq., called by him 
Presque Isle. The modest-looking country seat and 
extensive grounds of John P. De Wint, Esq. is the next 

j seen on the east side above Fishkill landing, presenting 
an extensive and handsomely wooded front towards the 

j river, with a complete view of the entrance of the 
Highlands and the opposite city. 



3* 



30 Newbiirgli—Peak of Fishkill Mountain. 



Newburjjli, 

from its peculiar situation on a hill presenting a very 
steep acclivity, is completely arrayed to the view of the 
passing traveller, and makes quite a display of business, 
and has its whale ships abroad, and its owu steamboats 
and sloops in abundance, besides being- one of the prin- 
cipal landing and stopping-places for all the steamboats 
that go to and fro between New- York and Albany, and 
a great outlet to the central and western parts of the 
state of New- York, and having roads and stages to all 
the inland towns and along the river ; and is noted also 
for its ale. The communication with Dutchess county 
is kept up by a ferry across to Fishkill landing, with its 
long pier reaching out to the channel. The Matteaimn 
cotton factory (Schenck's) is at the base of the Fishkill 
chain of hills near the mouth of the creek, and has a 
valuable water-power, mill, &c, and is a well managed 
concern. There are two highland schools, one at Cold 
Spring, on the hill near the foundery before mentioned, 
and the other here. 

The geology of the Highlands is primitive, but from 
hence to Troy and Waterford it is transition, and we 
are now entering upon and passing along its borders, as 
denoted by the limestone and kilns along shore for sev- 
eral miles. The interior of Orange and Dutchess coun- 
ties is fertile, and they are the dairies for the city, es- 
pecially Goshen in Orange county. 

From the highest peak of the Fishkill range, in plain 
sight, parties of pleasure that assemble from the vales 
of the neighbouring counties, to scale the arduous as- 
cent, on foot or in carriages, have a transcendently fine 
bird's-eye view down upon the Hudson from Newburgh 
up the river to a great distance, altogether superior in 
this respect to any other place, not forgetting even the 
Catskill Pine Orchard, that can be faintly discerned in 
the remotest distance, and also the nearer sweep of the 
Shawangunk range, forming the limit to the west, with 



Low Point — Hamburgh. 31 

all the intermediate country back of Newburgh also 
expanded to the eye, and on the right hand is seen in 
the far distance the prominent ranges and peaks in 
Massachusetts and Vermont, to the utmost verge of 
human vision. To visit this peak, land at Newburgh, 
cross the river to Fishkill landing, and foot it up the 
hili in two hours with ease ; the road is followed and 
traced up without the least difficulty, and the writer 
accomplished this in the time mentioned, and was not 
molested by or saw the least appearance of snakes or 
reptiles, although he trudged about considerably along 
the range towards the southwest, to change his points 
of view. Any one having the time to devote to the as- 
cension of this mountain, will have seen this part of the 
Hudson River valley, &c. in unequalled perfection. 

Proceeding on from Newburgh in a northeast course 
for six miles, in a handsome reach of the river, we pass 
Low Point, a small landing on the east with a few 
buildings, and in a few minutes' time reach a bold head- 
land or rock on the west shore, Dans commer or Dans 
kamer point, and facetiously referred to by Knicker- 
bocker, as " where Governor Stuyvesant in his voyage 
up and landing on this rock, was frightened out of his 
wits by a gang of merry roistering devils, freaking and 
curveting on a huge rock projected into the river, and 
which is called ihe Duyviil Dans Kamer to this day." 
.From the last mentioned point the river assumes, for 
ten or fifteen miles, a due north and south course, in a 
reach of exquisite beauty towards Poughkeepsie, that 
is clearly discovered in the distant perspective. 

Hamburgh on the east shore, is at the mouth of Wap- 
pinger Creek, a good mill stream, rising about thirty or 
forty miles to the northeast, and pervading the county 
of Dutchess, and having much fine rich interval land on 
its margin. A mile and a half north is passed a neat 
but unobtrusive house on the east, the former residence 
of George Clinton, governor of this state, and recently 
of General James Tallmadge ; and on the west shore 
nearly opposite, we see a new and elegant house of Mr. 



32 Barnegat — Poughkeepsie. 

Armstrong, and the village or landing of Hampton, and 
one and a half miles further is Jews' Creek, the paradise 
of the brickmakers, as is the shore hereabouts for the 
lime- burners. 

Barnegat is the next landing on the east, as is Milton 
on the west, and as we approach that of Poughkeepsie 
on the east, the traveller will please to notice the sin- 
gular conformation of the rocky and distorted slaty 
shores that rise in a threatening and dangerous manner 
near the landing, in a bold rocky bluffy that from its 
summit commands an extensive and beautiful reach up 
and down the river, and of the opposite shores in New 
Paltz. 

The landing at Poughkeepsie is seventy-jive miles from 
New-York, and sixty-nine from Albany, and has the as- 
pect of a stirring business place ; there are several ex- 
tensive manufactories (a large one for making steam 
locomotives) and warehouses along the river front, and 
there are several ships equipped from hence on whaling 
voyages, that make it upon the whole a good business. 
The city is principally built on the upper part of the 
hill, one mile east of the Hudson, at the intersection of 
the old route leading to Albany and New-York, and to 
the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The 
Dutch made their inroads upon the Indians in this vicin- 
ity in 1735 ; and in 1788 the New- York convention here 
assembled that adopted the constitution of the United 
States, and it has also at other periods, for a short time, 
been the seat of the State Legislature. The number of 
inhabitants at the present time is six thousand five hun- 
dred. Fall Creek runs through the north part of the 
city, and forms in its course down the ravine, cataracts 
and mill seats. The city has its own steam and tow- 
boats, to take the produce of this fertile county to the 
metropolis with speed and regularity, and this mode is 
fast supplanting the old tedious system of sloop naviga- 
tion on this river. 

There are several neat, tidy-looking villas or country 
seats adorning the river's bank in the vicinity of the 



Hyde Park — Crum Elbow Creek. 33 

landing, and at intervals along for several miles, as we 
approach or recede from the landing ; and at the end of 
the before mentioned long reach or meridional north 
and south line, we find ourselves drawing near a slight 
inflection, or divergence in the course of the river, 
called Crum Elbow, when, as we pass out of the long- 
reach that the interlocking of the opposite shores ex- 
cludes from our view, we see, far ahead, (if we occupy 
at this moment a favourable position on the upper deck) 
the first dim outline in the blue distance of the Catskill 
mountains, towering aloft like a thunder cloud. 

We are now passing the rough castellated front of 
Hyde Park, a place so called, that for three or four miles 
along the road, on the table land north and south, con- 
tains the elegant country seats of Mr. Giraud, Mr. Hol- 
j brook, Judge Johnson, Dr. Allen, and that of the late 
I Doctors Bard and Hosack, Judge Pendleton, H. Wilkes, 
and others. The avenue leading past this strikingly 
beautiful series of farms, and the residences of the afflu- 
I ent and tasteful owners, is not in sight of the steamboat 
j passengers only in part ; but a more superb Jine of road, 
' for the same distance, does not exist in this State, con- 
| sidering the auxiliaries that come into view before the 
traveller ; the fine avenue and its ornamental forest 
' trees of the maple, locust, &c, and the unrivalled back 
1 ground of the landscape, the elevated and cultivated and 
woody slopes of the west borders of the Hudson, that 
j from their proximity and the easy angle of inclination, 
; have a most graceful appearance in contrast with the 
more distant towering back ground of the blue range 
of the Catskills, in the northwest. 
Eighty miles from New- York, at the mouth of Crum 
i Elbow Creek, on the east shore, is the landing-place of 
( Hyde Park, and a few rods north, we see the splendidly- 
! arranged house and grounds of the late Dr. David 
Hosack, of New- York, and purchased by him of Wil- 
i liam Bard, Esq., the son of the late Dr. Samuel Bard, 
! one of the founders of the New- York Hospital — the 
\ extent of the land purchased by Dr. H. amounted in all 
I to about eight hundred acres, and the original cost to 



34 Delaware and Hudson Canal 

him, including his subsequent improvements, was 
$100,000. He had the grounds laid out in the most 
tasteful, attractive style, with gravel walks following 
the windings and undulations along the verge of the 
natural terrace, overlooking the Hudson river directly 
beneath, and the deep, abrupt, grassy and wooded lawn 
for a mile or two, and ending in a small circular tem- 
ple on the rocky margin of the Hudson. The waters 
of the Crum Elbow Creek run through the grounds, and 
are so disposed as to add to the beauty and value of the 
property. Since the death of the late proprietor, Dr. 
H., the very extensive collection of hot-house plants 
has been disposed of at auction. 

The next in rotation of the pleasant mansions on the 
east shore, is that of Judge Pendleton, and in two miles 
that of H. Wilkes. Nearly opposite a rocky island, 
two miles beyond, on the east shore, at eighty-five 
miles from New- York, in the township of Staatsburg, 
is the residence of Morgan Lewis, Esq., the Governor 
of the State in 1803 ; and near by is that of James Du- 
ane Livingston, and for the next two or three miles in 
passing along by the Esopus Meadows or flats, we see, 
on the east, the mansion of J. Thomson. 

On the west shore, just before arriving at a bleak 
rocky point, Columbus, ninety miles from New- York, 
the place of landing for Esopus, four miles distant, we 
pass the termination or beginning of the Shawangunk 
range, here called Mombackus, or Indian face, that ex- 
tends in a southwest direction for seventy miles, to the 
Delaware River. 

The Waalkill River, that here comes into the Hud- 
son from the southwest, is about eighty miles long, and 
rises in the large morass or overflown tract in Orange 
county, known as the drowned lands, ten miles long 
and three wide, and follows at the eastern base of the 
Shawangunk range for many miles, and receives as 
branches, the Shawangunk kill and the Rondout kill, 
and up the valley of the latter proceeds the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal from its termination at Eddyxille, 



Delaware and Hudson Canal. 35 

about four miJes to the southwest. Bolton landing is 
about one mile from Columbus, and is in plain view 
from the Hudson, in passing the point. 

The Lackawana coal is brought to Eddyville from 
the mines in Pennsylvania by railroad sixteen miles and 
canal one hundred and eight miles. It is a singular 
fact that the summit level of the Delaware and Hudson 
Canal, at a morass where the Barkers kill (running 
southwest to the Nevisink and Delaware) interlocks 
with the Sandberg kill, (that runs northeast to the 
Rondout kill and the Hudson,) is more than four hun- 
dred feet above the Hudson, and only eighty feet above 
the Delaware ; thus a dam across the Delaware at Car- 
penter's Point or Port Lewis, fifty-nine miles from the 
Hudson, at the west border of Orange county, might be 
made to divert the entire waters of the Delaware, in a 
northeast course towards the valley of the Hudson 
River, along the western base of the Shawangunk 
mountains, and this, from geological appearances, was 
formerly the case. There are no passage-boats, but coal- 
boats plying on this canal as it is entirely out of the 
usual route for pleasure travellers, otherwise the scene- 
ry on the canal has some recommendations. Though 
it may be possible to get on in that way, and rough it 
to the head of the canal at Honesdale, and then take 
stage for Wilkesbarre, or Montrose, or Binghamton, 
and then branch oif either to Utica, and the Mohawk, 
and the St. Lawrence, or on the west, on the banks of 
the Susquehanna to Ovvego and up to Ithaca and down 
the Cayuga or Seneca Lake, or from Owego farther 
west by the valley of the Susquehannah to Tioga Point, 
thence northwest to Newtown, Painted Post, Bath, Ba- 
tavia, and Niagara Falls — it must be confessed, a wilder 
route could not be selected ; yet at Honesdale and Car- 
bondale, and in passing the main ridges, there would 
be much to gratify the eye of the poet, the philosopher, 
and the landscape painter. 

The Delaware- and Hudson Canal is thirty-two to 
thirty-six feet wide, and four deep, — ascent five hun- 



36 Kingston — Country Seats. 

dred and thirty-five, and descent eighty feet, — sixty- 
two locks, and six hundred and fifteen feet lockage ; — 
cost of canal, sixteen thousand dollars per mile, — the 
elevation on the Moosic mountain is overcome by five 
inclined planes, each from two thousand to three thous- 
and feet in length, single track, and cost six thousand 
five hundred dollars per mile. 

There are always stages on the dock at Columbus to 
convey passengers to Kingston, three miles inland to 
the northwest, on a handsome plain. This was settled 
by the Dutch as early as 1616 ; it is the county town 
of Ulster, and was destroyed by fire in 1777, by the 
British troops under Vaughan. The court house is a 
stone building, and cost forty thousand dollars. The 
other public and many private buildings are also of 
stone, and the inhabitants wealthy and industrious. 
The village has the advantage of large lots and gardens, 
and must be an agreeable residence. The flats along 
the Esopus creek, in front of the village, are rich and 
handsome. There are about two thousand inhabitants. 
Opposite to Columbus or Kingston, is the landing of 
Rhi?iebeck, (derived from the river Rhine in Germany," 
and Beckman, the name of an original proprietor.) The 
village, containing seventy houses, is three miles in the 
interior, on the Rhinebeck flats, a pleasant tract, and 
easy soil for cultivation. For several miles above 
Rhinebeck, the soil and aspect is rather uninviting, but 
on the west shore we are constantly regaled with the 
scenery of the Catskills as we rapidly advance, until 
we reach the lower landing of Red Hook, ninety-eight 
miles from New- York, with the handsome residence of 
Captain Lowndes Broivn near the river, and of General 
Armstrong further in the rear, on the hill ; and in a 
short distance north of the dock is that of John R. Liv- 
ingston, Esq., and, opposite the Magdalen Island, of Dr. 
Martin, are also successively those of the late Major 
General Montgomery, Robert Donaldson, R. S. Living- 
ston, and Mrs. Barker, and of Philip Livingston, Esq. on 
the point of Saw Kill Creek. 



Redhook — Saugerties. 37 

The white speck seen for several miles on the Cats- 
kill, is the famous mountain houses two thousand five 
hundred feet in elevation above the Hudson. 

Glasgow village, in Ulster county, on the west, is 
ninety-nine miles from New- York, abreast of the upper 
of the Magdalen Islands. 

One hundred miles from New- York, and forty-four 
from Albany, we arrive at the Redhook upper landing on 
the east, and the delightful residences of Robert Til- 
lotson, Esq., John Swift Livingston, Esq., and Mr. El- 
mendorff, together witli a number of other houses, and 
a hotel ; but the principal settlement is five miles to the 
east, on the main post-road from north to south. Observe 
that in this near vicinity is Redhook post-office, Redhcok 
landing post-office, and Upper Redhook post-office, as 
this is apt to create confusion in mailing letters. 

Esopus Creek, as it is termed on the maps, but richly 
deserving the name of river, comes into the Hudson on 
the. west shore, nearly opposite the landing last men- 
tioned. It rises in the northwest part of Ulster county, 
j has a southeast and then a northeast course past King- 
ston, and then nearly north to Saugerties village, its 
i entire length being sixty miles, with much rich land on 
j its margin, and has a heavy water power concentrated 
( within four miles of its mouth, principally belonging to 
Henry Barclay, Esq. of Ury, the country seat so named, 
opposite upper Redhook. 
Few manufacturing vi Uages in the Northern States are 
I equal to Saugerties, or have a more solid basis of pros- 
j perity, a never-failing water power, derived from the 
I southern slope of the lofty CatskilJs, united with ample 
! capital, judiciously directed in the manufacture of pa- 
I per, cottons, woollens, bar-iron, white lead, and many 
| others. The principal fall at this village is fifty feet in 
\ height, formed by the union of art and nature, so direct- 
j ed as to back the water for three miles, thus creating a 
j lovely lake to within a mile or so of the great falls of 
Esopus, and a combination of attractive scenery, highly 
pleasing to the traveller of taste, and to the citizens 
4 



38 Livingston Manor. 

from the south desiring a residence for the summer 
months. There are steamboats and tow-boats belong- 
ing to this place, and every facility for reaching this 
desirable village, and enjoying the rides among the stu- 
pendous ghauts, or deep gorges of the Catskills, that 
within ten or fifteen miles attain their greatest elevation 
and beauty, a:d are beheld with the most impressive 
effect. The population of Saugerties is four thousand. 

The Manor of Living ston, in 1684-5-6, was granted 
by the king of England to Robert Livingston, a member 
of his privy council, and embraced a front of ten miles 
and a half on the Hudson, twenty and a halt miles back 
inland, and fourteen on the eastern border, making two 
hundred and eighty-eight square miles : with baronial 
privileges, a tract equal to a small German principality. 
It is at present owned by several heirs of the original 
proprietors, (with the exception of Germantovvn, a tract 
of six thousand acres, conveyed in 1710, by an arrange- 
ment with Queen Anne, to a number of Palatines who 
had served in her armies in Germany,) and now forms 
the townships of Clermont, Livingston, Taghkanick, 
Anc.ram, and Germantown. 

The old Livingston manor-house is situated on the 
east bank of the Hudson, near Rolef Jansen's, or An- 
cram Creek, ten miles above Redhook upper landing ; 
but the splendid residences of Robert L. Livingston and 
Edward P. Livingston, Esquires, the sons of the late 
chancellor Livingston, (minister to France, who made 
the negotiation for the purchase of Louisiana with Na- 
poleon, for fifteen millions of dollars,) are situated near- 
ly opposite to Saugerties, and their diversified grounds 
and lawns, that command the finest scenery on the 
Hudson, extend for miles on the borders of the river, 
and are in every respect princely abodes. This family 
are, and have always been on the popular side in politi- 
cal matters, and in unison with the old republican party, 
and of high estimation in the national and state govern- 
ments. 

Bristol, on the west shore, is a small village and land- 



Catskill — Pine Orchard. 39 

ing for sloops, two miles above Saugerties ; and oppo- 
site, in the middle of the river, begins a series of flats, 
or low mud islands, that extend up for two or three 
miles, past Trumpore's landing, the next above Bristol. 
Oak Hill, the residence of Harman Livingston, Esq., 
next is seen on the east shore, conspicuously on the hill 
south of the landing, and the convenient dock and ware- 
house for storing country produce ; and on the opposite 
shore, as we draw near the landing, we pass, a creek 
with a very serpentine channel winding through the 
marsh and soon after arrive at 



Catskill, 

on the west shore, one hundred and eleven miles from 
New- York. This has long been an important landing- 
place for visiters to the great hotel on the table rock of 
the Catskills, known as the Pine Orchard, and frequent- 
ed by thousands of travellers. Carriages are always in 
waiting on the dock to accommodate those that wish to 
ascend. Travellers can proceed by the railroad to 
Canajoharie, a town on the Erie Canal and banks of the 
Mohawk river, about seventy miles in a northwest di- 
rection up the valley of the Catskill river, through 
Green and Schoharie counties, and over and along the 
northeastern slopes of the mountains, saving, perhaps, 
a little time and distance, but losing the view of Hud- 
son, Albany, and Troy, and of the delightful railroad 
route along the Mohawk, from Schenectady to the in- 
tersection of Canajoharie. 

Stages for the west leave Catskill daily for Bingham- 
ton, Owego, and Ithaca, and thence down the Cayuga 
Lake for forty miles, and by stage, canal, or railroad, to 
Geneva, Canandaigua, Rochester, Lockport, Lewistown, 
or Buffalo. 

Besides the view from the table rock before alluded 
to, there are other inducements for travellers disposed 
for a time to seek out gratification and amusement, to 



40 Scenery of the Catskills. 

visit the falls and other spots that the magic touches 
of Cole the artist have brought to the public admira- 
tion; and as coaches run regularly to and from the 
mountain, and are so adjusted as to meet the steamboats 
at various hours, and also to enable the public to visit 
the different falls, there is every facility afforded the 
traveller ; the price is one dollar to ascend to the 
mountain house — the time required, about four hours, 
distance twelve miles — but half the time suffices to 
return. The road for nine miles from the landing is 
uneven, and for the last three, a steep ascent in a zig-zag 
course, doubling on the track, that soon places the trav- 
eller in a peculiar position, rather trying to the nerves 
of the timid. 

The Clove road that ascends the Catskills, a mile or 
two south of the road to Pine Orchard, should by all 
means be seen as one of the wonders of the vicinity. 
It enters upon the ascent where theKauterskill emerges 
into the light of day, from the deep and overshadowed 
ravine, where the raging and force of the tumultuous 
waters have thrown large masses of rock into every 
imaginable and confused form, pile on pile, among 
which, the tumbling waters are sometimes seen burst- 
ing forth from narrow channels, or crevices, or swelling 
and boiling up from some syphon or upper source, or 
forming cascades of an endless variety of forms, and 
giving forth sounds of its raging and uncontrolled pow- 
er, that, as the traveller follows up the arduous, and 
endless, and truly fatiguing ascent, becomes less and 
less audible, as the road takes the other side of the 
gorge, by crossing a rude bridge. 

Several tremendous precipices of sandstone rock, of 
several hundred feet in perpendicular height, strike one 
with awe and delight, — and when nearly at the end 
of the ascent, the traveller will pause and look back to 
tiie east, through the narrow vista of the towering 
rocky masses of the mountain on either hand, at a 
plunging and rapid sweep of the eye, at the distant 
fields and farms far down in the vale below, and beyond 



Scenery of the Catskills. 41 

the Hudson, on the east shore, well in the interior, to- 
wards the Massachusetts and Connecticut lines the 
diversified colours of the cleared and cultivated lands, 
green lots, and the yellow harvest ripening 1 for the 
sickle and the scythe, with all the hues of the fading 
distance, and at the deep and full green of the Ameri- 
can forest predominating over the landscape, the whole 
presented at such a visual angle and as distinctly exhib- 
ited in its details, as a vast map, or page, in the sub- 
lime volume of nature. 

The entire view, from the twilight dimness of ob- 
jects in the gorge, and the concentration of the eager 
gaze of the beholder, and the brilliant lighting up of the 
remoter squares and divisions of the farms, dwindled 
into diminutive size at the end of this grand gallery of 
nature, seems of itself to be a perfect picture, set with 
a most gigantic and appropriate frame, and underneath 
the blue canopy of the over-arching expanse of heaver, 
is in admirable keeping and harmony^ When resum- 
ing the advance, and attaining to the summit of the 
gap, in a short distance there is a clearing and a log- 
house or two, and you can begin your view westward ; 
the extreme summit of the round top still appears to be 
at a toilsome distance. The residents near this spot 
are accustomed to conduct up those seeking their aid 
to attain the crowning summit of the Catskills, three 
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six feet high. While 
here, get the guides to conduct you to the ravine near 
by, where the western branch of the Kauterskill pre- 
sents a most beautiful cascade into the deep and nar- 
row amphitheatrical walls of a secluded receptacle, 
hollowed out and excavated into pools or reservoirs, 
most admirable for a pure clear bath, where naught but 
a small opening Jike a sky-light admits a sufficiency 
of exposure to exhibit, the exquisite drapery that clothes 
the steep sides and the encircling rim or verge of this 
sanctuary of nature, that must be sought and won with 
considerable toil and muscular exertion, and that so 
richly repays the explorer. This is one among a nura- 
4* 



42 Scenery of the Cattskills. 

ber of the hitherto secret and hidden beauties of nature, 
that man has seldom beheld in this portion of the 
mountain ; others exist farther to the interior. 

A week or a month of the long days in Jane, July, or 
August, will not exhaust the resources of pleasure, but 
a bare day or two is but seldom awarded, and that is 
given merely to the Pine Orchard and the Kauterskill, 
that we shall now describe, premising that the writer 
once visited them from below, by taking a lateral road, 
on the north of Clove Road, excavated tor the red paint 
or pigment, the oxide of iron, and clambering up the 
steep ravine, from crag to crag, and over the dashing 
brook, and slippery trunks of fallen trees, or moss cov- 
ered rocks, until the position was at length attained, 
that presents the two leaps of the upper Kauterskill 
falls in one upward view. 

The hotel on the table rock was built by the citizens 
of Catskill, and cost twenty-two thousand dollars ; it is 
one hundred and forty feet in length, four stories high, 
with a piazza extending across the front, and a colon- 
nade. There are about six acres of naked rock surface 
around the hotel, with ample room for out-buildings. 
The hotel is placed at a safer distance from the verge 
of the sheer descent of the precipice, to allow coaches 
to draw or drive up in front, to deliver and receive pas- 
sengers, and for visiters to promenade about, and peer 
over the dizzy, toppling crags, into the deep valley 
under the eye of the spectator, here at an altitude of 
two thousand five hundred feet above the Hudson, and 
fifteen hundred above the open meadow at the imme- 
diate base of the precipitous descent. The Hudson 
River appears distinctly at intervals, for forty or fifty 
miles, dotted over with numerous islands, and the white 
sails of the river craft, and the steamers, with their 
long trains and curling volumes of smoke, that may be 
easily distinguished by the naked eye, urging their 
powerful course over the placid surface of the river, 
that in the morning sun gleams brilliantly and dazzles 
the eye with its effulgence. The cities of Catskill, 



Scenery of the Catskills. 43 

Hudson, and Poughkeepsie, also are plainly seen, and 
minor towns, with their distant village spires. The 
beholder is impressed at once with the predominance 
of the native forest trees, and the deep verdure of their 
foliage, that yet rules over the largest extent of the 
surface of old mother earth, in the entire length and 
breadth of the land, with a scattering of farms and 
cleared lands, and evidences of the industry of man. 
The eastern bank of the Hudson, and the entire sweep 
of the landscape, far retreating into the interior, to- 
wards Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, em- 
bracing one hundred miles from north to south, and 
fifty miJes from east to west, is completely unfolded to 
the view, developing a large portion of the Hudson 
River valley, and presented at the least angle of incli- 
nation or slope, towards us, environed with a splendid 
outline or frame of mountains, with the Taughkannock 
Peak, indicating the north-west corner of Connecticut, 
near the New- York and Massachusetts line, in the 
south-east, — the well recognised, elevated sierra of 
Saddle-Mountain, near Williamstown, in Massachu- 
setts, to the north-east, and some prominent peaks of 
the Green Mountains in Vermont, on the extreme north 
or left ; and on the right or south, we distinguish the 
blue outline of the Fishkill range, and of the Highlands 
beyond Newburgh. The coup a" ceil is grand, — the 
o'ertopping ridges behind the hotel, on the south-west, 
west, and north-west, bound the view to a limited ex- 
tent, but are themselves objects of great magnificence, 
and are yet seen in all their pristine, or native wildness, 
rudeness, &c. The small peak that rises on the south near 
by, is about one hundred and fifty feet higher than the 
hotel, and is a geological study of itself, composed of 
pudding-stone, sand-stone, &c. and gives an extension 
lo the view towards Albany, and a bird's-eye view of 
\ the table rock and hotel. 

The remains of the Windham turnpike, made some 

twenty or thirty years since, across this mountain, may 

( be followed towards the west, passing the two lakes that 



44 Scenery of the Catskills. 

are two thousand feet above tide water, one mile long 1 , 
and form the cascade of the Kauterskill Falls, that 
will now be described: — the lakes are repulsive in 
their aspect, the one on the north, with broad lobed- 
leaved aquatic plants floating on the surface, and 
bordered by tangled shrubbery, — but the other has 
a cleaner margin, and the waters of both are connected 
by a brook passing under the bridge. The supply of 
water is small, and preserved with care, and let off for 
hire, to increase the mass of the fall when a party of 
strangers arrives. Following -a winding, stumpy, rug- 
ged, and at times muddy road, for about a mile through 
the woods to the south-west, we arrive at an opening 
of six hundred feet in circumference, that yawns before 
us to a profound depth, and arrests our progress by its 
deep semi-circular or amphitheatrical aperture or form, 
open only towards the south or southwest, and exposing 
the deep ravine, richly clothed round with trees, and va- 
ried with foliage of different colours, retreating steeply 
down a quarter of a mile or more towards the clove road, 
and from the foot of the ravine west of the clove, rises 
in one majestic curtain or slope, extending a mile or 
two heavenward, the full body of the vast round top, 
that fills an angle of thirty or forty degrees above the 
level of the eye of the beholder, filing him with admi- 
ration at the noble grandeur of the effect. The run, or 
outlet that discharges the water of the two small lakes, 
rushes across the mass of sand-stone composing the 
precipice, and leaps into the gulf; and exhausting it- 
self in foam and spray, falls upon the debris one hun- 
dred and seventy-five feet, is again collected on the 
floor of the rock, and within a short distance takes 
another plunge of seventy-five feet, and follows the 
dark and over-arched, and deeply-shaded depth and 
windings of the ravine to the valley below. 

After studying this grouping of the mountains and 
ravine from above, the traveller should by all means 
follow the circuitous path that will conduct him down 
about ninety feet, and then take a horizontal direction, 



Scenery of the Catskiils. 45 

passing under the rock into a semi-cave behind the 
water-fall, with the vast rock above that supports the 
falling sheet of water, and impends over as the stooping 
and groping explorer walks on the crumbled debris of 
the red rock, while the water is falling twenty or thirty 
feet clear of the standing-place, and forms a curtain of 
snowy spray in front of this deep recess, that serves 
partly to veil the deep blue sky, and adds much to the 
charms of this fearful and wonderful place ; even the 
rainbow at certain times appears from above, floating 
on the bosom of the mists of the falling spray for a 
moment, vanishing and circling away. Those that 
omit to view this fall from below lose much that will 
cause regret. 

The invigorating pure air that is inhaled at the moun- 
tain house, and the exhilarating effect of the various 
excursions and promenades that are usually taken 
while there, have braced up and restored to health 
many an invalid that no other means could have re- 
cruited. 

Not the least of the gratifications derived by an ob- 
servant person, or a lover of nature, from a visit to this 
mountain eyrie, the most remarkable and elevated in 
the United States, are the changes in the atmosphere, 
produced by clouds, fogs, thunder-storms, and the 
charming and sublime shadows and lights passing rap- 
idly over the plain ; also the appearances produced by 
the early morning sun, or evening twilight, or the 
softer radiance of full moon, or by the clearing off and 
rising of the morning mist from the plains below ; or 
what is still better, to be so fortunate as to witness the 
gathering of a heavy thunder-storm, and to see the 
lowering volumes of dark vapours come sweeping over 
the western crest of the mountain, bringing in its train 
the forked lightning, the loud thunder, and the pelting- 
hail, shaking the firm foundations, and reverberating 
among the echoes of the everlasting hills ; and then to 
see, as the writer has done, the surcharged clouds sub- 
' siding and sinking into the valley, and then again to 



46 Scenery of the Catskills — Hudson. 

see the bright flash, and hear the roar of the storm 
that is raging beneath your feet, while over your 
zenith all is clear and calm as a summer's morning, and 
you see beyond the range of the storm, at ten. twenty, 
or forty miles distance, the clear powerful rays of the 
sun pouring with unmitigated intensity upon a tract 
parched with drought ; and then to finish and grace the 
scene, as the atmosphere is clearing away, pillars of 
rainbow-hues are seen in the east on the face of the re- 
treating cloud, and all is hushed, and the refreshed face 
of nature once more assumes its wonted appearance. 
A traveller from Europe present at the time, acknowl- 
edged that a scene equal to that in sublimity had only 
once gratified him, — Mont Blanc at sun-set. 

From Catskill we find our boat shaping its course to 
the north-east, past a large marshy island, and approach- 
ing a bend of the river near the foot of Mount Merino 
on the east shore. After rounding the hill, the city of 
Hudson appears before us, at one hundred and sixteen 
miles from New- York, and twenty-eight from Albany, 
with its lofty ware-houses at the landing, and ships, 
steamboats, and sloops, giving evidence of capital and 
enterprise that here exist, and that has sent out many 
ships on distant whaling voyages to the south seas. 
The city is principally on the summit of the hill, sixty 
feet above the landing, and is seen to better advantage 
when the steamboat is two or three miles out in the 
river. There are seven thousand inhabitants in Hud- 
son, it is the capital of Columbia county, a port 
of entry, and the head of ship navigation for large ves- 
sels. A branch rail-road extends across this State and 
Massachusetts to Boston, and travellers intending to 
visit the Shaker Village at Ntw-Lebanon, thirty miles 
to the north-east, will land here and proceed in the 
rail-road cars, at seven o'clock in the morning, or in 
private conveyances by applying at the inns. 

There is considerable water-power in the neighbour- 
hood, and much of manufacturing industry near Hud- 
son. Its settlement commenced in 1784, by Thomas 



Athens — Kinder hook — Staat's Point. 47 

and Seth Jenkins, of Providence, and twenty-eight 
others, and it had a most rapid growth for a time, too 
rapid, in fact, for in two years it had fifteen hundred 
inhabitants, and one hundred and fifty dwelling houses. 
Prospect Hill is at the east end of Warren-street that 
has a gentle ascent of one mile, and terminates in a 
public square, academy, water-works, &c. Other streets 
are laid out parallel, and the lots are fifty by one hun- 
dred and twenty feet. It is compact near the river. 
There are several churches, banks, jail, court-house, 
&c. Lead ores have been found here. 

Athens, on the west shore opposite to Hudson, is in 
Greene county, and has some genteel private resi- 
dences, and some participation in the river business, 
and sloop navigation, and communicates by a canal cut 
through the mud flat, to avoid a circuit, and boats pass 
to and fro. 

Four miles above Hudson on the east, Kinderhook 
Creek, or Abraham's Creek, alias Claverack Creek, 
comes in, and at its mouth there are cotton factories, 
paper mills, and a peculiarity in the landscape of 
most striking appearance ; and opposite is a prominent 
nigh rocky point, one hundred and twenty miles from 
New- York, called Four Mile Point, said to be the 
actual head of ship navigation. The retrospective view 
down the river from this towards Hudson is truly fine, 
with Mounts Merino, Bancroft, and Prospect in the 
back ground. The shoals and obstructions from 
this to Albany are increasing every year, in spite 
of the puny efforts of man to counteract ; and even- 
tually, measures will have to be adopted to extend the 
i Erie Canal thus far. 

Staat's Point is next passed on the east above the 
creek, and Bennett's Point and Island, and in one mile, 
! Little Nutter Hook, and Nutter Hook ; and across to 
] west shore Coxackie landing, and three islands, (village 
I one mile back,) one hundred and twenty three miles 
(from New- York, and an important bustling little place, 
with sloops, ship-yards, or rather for building steam, 



48 Kinder hook — New- Baltimore. 

canal, and tow-boats, and a hauling-up place. Three 
hundred feet above the Hudson, is a boulder of Hypers- 
thene, of one hundred tons, like those in the dykes in 
Essex County. 

Sluyvesant or Kinderhook landing, is on the east, 
{Kinderhook five miles east,) at the mouth of Coxackie 
Creek, one hundred and twenty-five miles from New- 
York. 

Kinderhook was settled by the Dutch and Swedes, 
and the name originates from Children's comer or point, 
so called from the number of children belonging to a 
Swedish family that anciently lived on a point of land 
half a mile above the upper landing. This is said to 
have been the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, Pre- 
sident of the United States. 

Many Islands occur from here to Albany and Water- 
ford, causing the channel to be very crooked and varia- 
ble, but adding to the beauty of the trip. 

New- Baltimore, one hundred and twenty-nine miles, 
has a dock and store-house, and one sloop to New- York 
once a week. The water is eleven feet deep ; to this 
place tide rises three to four and a half feet. 

Hannekai's Kill, or Cock Crowing Creek, is on the 
west side, opposite a group of Islands. 

Coeymans, and Coeymans Kill, one hnndred and 
thirty-two miles, is in Albany County, and evidently an 
ancient and venerable place, with its store-houses, 
mills, &c. 

Schodack, one hundred and thirty-five miles, village 
and landing in Rensselaer County. 

Castleton, one hundred and thirty-six miles; shoalest 
water from New -Baltimore to this, three and a half to 
seven feet, and four and a half to five and a half to Al- 
bany ; tide rises two to four feet high. 

Vlamans Kill, west side, and Winnes pier and bar. 

Papacane Creek, east. side. 

Hoke Be v gh, or high hill, Mr. J. B. Staats, five miles 
from Albany. Van Wies Point, west. 

Prospect Hill, cast, seat of late E. C. Genet, minister 



Albany. 49 

from France in 1798. The eastern slopes of the islands 
facing the overslaugh are paved with stone to low water, 
to prevent abrasion by the current, and a dam at the 
north point is to force the water in one channel, and in- 
crease the velocit)', and prevent the bar that detains 
vessels at low water. Hitherto the United States have 
devoted large sums to counteract this evil, but it recurs 
and fills up, even if scoured out by a machine. 

Four miles above this is Albany in plain sight, and 
after passing along an island that intervenes between 
the mouth of the Norman's Kill, and Cuyler's Bar, and 
Van Rensselaer's Mills, and Greenbush, on the east 
shore, we arrive at 

Albany, 

one hundred and forty-four miles from New- York, in 
N. lat. 42° 39', W. Jong. 73° 13'. The Legislature of 
the State here assembles in the Capitol or State- House, 
at the head of State-street, one hundred and thirty feet 
above the river. From the observatory on the top of 
this edifies is one of the finest views in this State, and 
accessible to ail strangers. Four Ionic columns of mar- 
ble, thirty-three feet high, ornament the portico. 

The principal objects of attraction the city presents, 
are its ancient and modern buildings, and the public 
works of the State, the Erie and Champlain Canal, and 
the great Canal Basin. The ancient Dutch buildings, 
of which some are judiciously permitted to remain in 
good order, as relics of the oiden time, by their owners, 
must be sought for in Pearl-street, north of State, and 
in streets near the river. The residence of the late 
Governor De Witt Clinton, and the Female School, 
also in Pearl-street, are pointed out to strangers. 

The Albany Academy, of red sandstone, also fronts on 
the square north of the Capitol, and cost one hundred 
thousand dollars, and is occupied in part by the Albany 
Institute or Lyceum. 

The City Hall, also fronting on the Capitol square 



50 Albany. 

on the east side, is a showy building of white marble, 
hewed out by the State-prison convicts of Sing Sing, 
and is distinguished abo^e all other edifices in America 
by its gilded dome, like the invalides at Paris, and has 
a truly dazzling effect, — this is the court building, and 
fitted for County purposes. 

An Exchange is at the front of State-street, and also 
fronting on Market. 

There are twenty-two churches for all denominations ; 
a Theatre, but poorly sustained ; a Museum in a semi- 
elliptical building, that is of an elegant and striking 
appearance, corner of State and Market-streets, and is 
worthy of a visit, and also the terrace on the top. 

The Law Buildings, corner of South, Market, and 
Beaver, and the South Dutch Church in Beaver and 
Hudson-streets, with its noble portico of freestone and 
neatly arranged ground?, also the Churches, the Acad- 
emies, City Library and Reading-room, &c, are all ob- 
jects worthy of attention to those that have time to study 
the taste of the people. 

Stanwix Hall, of the eastern granite, with its fine 
dome cannot but be admired. 

The banking-houses, five in number, are in State- 
street, but are plain, decent edifices. The State-House, 
for records, and for the use of the Treasurer, Secreta- 
ry of Slate, Surveyor General, Register, Adjutant Gene- 
ral, Chancellor, &c, is a plain fire-proof brick building, 
solid and substantial. 

The re "e by Erie Canal occupies one day and a 
half. People that value their time, avoid that route, 
though along the Mohawk and Little Falls it is not ex- 
celled by any other. Both are given in full, to en?- 
ble the traveller to make his selection. 

Albany contains about thirty-five thousand inhabi- 
tants, was founded in 1610, after H. Hudson ha;: sailed 
up the river to the mouth of the Mohawk and returned 
to Holland, when a fort and lodgement was effected on 
an island below, in 1614, and found to be too much 
exposed to floods, ice, &c, and abandoned three years 



Albany. 51 

after, and Fort Orange erected, on or near the Fort 
Orange Hotel, in South Market-street. 

The English captured New- York in 1684, when this 
place then received from its new masters the present 
name, after the Duke of York and Albany, the proprie- 
tor. It had a royal charter in 1686 under Dongan, and 
was anciently surrounded by a stockade as a defence 
against Indians, and it has always been an important 
and central military position, both in the Indian and 
French wars ; and its connection with the Erie Canal, 
and the railroad leading to the west, have recently giv- 
en it a further impulse that must continue, as all the 
travel from the Eastern States must pass its portals. 

The depot of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, from 
Albany to Schenectady, is found at 115 State-street, 
opposite Congress Hall, near the top of the hill and 
public square. Seats are there secured for Utica, price 
three dollars and seventy-five cents — through in four 
hours — ninety-six miles. 

This Railroad, extending fifteen miles from Albany 
to Schenectady, across a sandy plain covered with pines 
and shrubbery, with an inclined plane at each end, cost 
eight or nine hundred thousand dollars, and the Sara- 
toga and Schenectady Railroad, a continuation of the 
preceding, and leading to Ballston and Saratoga Springs, 
and twenty-one miles long, cost only two hundred and 
ninety-seven thousand two hundred and thirty-seven 
dollars, or not half the amount of the former, and almost 
half as long again ; began in 1831, and finished in 1832. 
Another route to reach the Springs in the shortest pos- 
sible time, is to proceed on to Troy, and take the rail- 
road from thence leading over to the islands at the 
mouth of the Mohawk, and over the branch of the delta 
of the Mohawk to Waterford, and thence to Ballston — 
twenty-five miles and a pleasant route. 

The Packet-boats do not run as formerly on the canal 
between Albany and Schenectady, as from passing 
through twenty-seven locks in the twenty-eight and a 
half miles, and its consuming twelve hours, it became 



52 Albany. 

unpopular, and was given up, but the line of freight- 
boats take passengers if desired. Those wishing to 
take passage in the canal-boats that leave Schenectady 
for the west in the morning or afternoon, take cars or 
coaches at Albany on the arrival of the boats from 
New- York, and are in Schenectady in time. 

For Troy, there are stages leaving State, corner of 
Market-street, every half hour, price one shilling, be- 
sides small steamboats that leave on the arrival of the 
great ones from New- York. 

Stages leave daily for Ballston and Saratoga Springs, 
at six, nine, and twelve in the forenoon,* and at two, 
three, and five in the afternoon ; and for Whitehall 
daily, to meet the boat on Lake Champlain, that runs 
to St. John's, and by railroad to La Prairie, and on the 
St. Lawrence to Montreal. Also, for New-Haven in a 
day and a half, via Litchfield daily,one o'clock afternoon. 

For Hartford in a day, via Sheffield and Norfolk daily, 
one in morning. 

For Lebanon Springs, via Nassau, at nine in forenoon, 
twenty-five miles. 

For Montreal in three days, at two o'clock morning. 

For Boston, via Lebanon, Pittsfield, Springfield and 
Worcester, by railroad. 

Stage Offices corner of State and Market, under the 
Museum, and on the corner of Hamilton and Market- 
streets. 

firand Route to the West, 

by railroad from Albany to Schenectady (the Springs,) 
Utica, Syracuse, Auburn, Rochester, Lew T istown, Bata- 
via, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls. 

The line of the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad at its 
commencement, is in plain view, seen from the steam- 
boat, on the west bank of the Hudson, near the southern 
confines of the city, where is the main depot for the 
freight-cars, that are taken up the inclined plane by a 
stationary engine to the summit. Passengers for the 



Albany — Jesse Buel. 53 

Utica, and Ballston, and Saratoga railroad?, will pur- 
chase their tickets at the depot office, 115 State-street, 
and will be despatched punctually at eight o'clock. 
Price through to Utica, three dollars and seventy-five 
cents, or to Schenectady, seventy-five cents, or to the 
Springs, one dollar and fifty cents. 

Horse-power is used to drag each car, the moment 
passengers arrive sufficient to fill one, out to the head 
of State-street, where the locomotive engine is in wait- 
ing, and when the entire train is ready, the road is soon 
passed in a direct line for twelve miles through a ste- 
rile, sandy tract to Schenectady, nearly on a level. The 
iron plates rest on wooden rails bedded on stone. This 
has no connection, by charter, with the Utica road. 
Some deep sand excavations and embankments aifs 
passed, and also the farm and nursery of Wilson and 
Buel, three miles from Albany. The farm covers about 
eighty acres, and the nursery twelve or fifteen. Mr. 
Buel was extensively known as the editor of the Culti- 
vator, a monthly quarto paper at fifty cents a year, and 
for his entire devotion to the interests of agriculture 
and horticulture. The successful results of his labours 
in these respects are here beneficially exemplified. His 
catalogues and publications are to be seen in the Alba- 
ny book-stores. 

Arriving at the inclined plane overlooking Schenec- 
tady and the valley of the Mohawk, with the grand 
Erie Canal at the toot of the hill, the traveller is three 
hundred and thirty-five feet above tide-water at Albany, 
(there are twenty-seven canal locks between Albany 
and Schenectady, rise two hundred and twenty-seven 
feet,) one hundred and eight feet descent of the plane 
] in half a mile. The first glance from this elevation is 
very pleasing ; but a few moments are allowed the pas- 
sengers, who are let down in the customary manner, 
and pass by the capacious depots and car-repositories 
on the plain, here in close proximity to the Erie Canal, 
Mohawk River, &c. &e. Passing through the city of 
Schenectady, this route unites with the railroad that 
5* 



54 Schenectady. 

extends to Ballston, fifteen miles, and Saratoga SjJrings, 
six and a half miles. (For the route to the Springs 
via Troy, see p. 51.) 

Schenectady, 

fifteen miles from Albany, contains abouffive thousand 
five hundred inhabitants, exclusive of the two hundred 
students attached to Union College, and is well placed 
near the Mohawk River. It was surprised and burnt 
by the French Canadians and Indians, the eighth of 
February, 1690, and the inhabitants perished in cold 
blood, or were made captives ; few escaped in the snow 
to Albany. In 1748 another massacre took place of 
seventy inhabitants, and in 1819 one hundred and sev- 
enty houses were burnt. There is a good hotel on the 
mam-street. The dreary old sandy road, horridly paved 
with large stones, tfyat formerly was dreaded, and re- 
quired four or five hours of stage-driving for fifteen 
miles to Albany, is now a matter of history with the 
old traveller, in contrast with existing facilities, and 
the same may be said with. many other routes. There 
are two banks, six churches, a City Hall, &c. ; it is 
an old settlement. Many mills, and sites for hydraulic 
works, are near the town. 

The Mohawk river is crossed by a bridge three hun- 
dred yards long, and an embankment of one thousand 
three hundred and twenty yards, when the roads diverge, 
that for Utica to the west, and for the Springs to the 
north-east. 

Union College may be advantageously seen while 
passing the bridge, on the right hand or south side of 
the Mohawk, on a gentle ascent, and displays two ranges 
of white buildings, each two hundred feet long, and 
four stories high, of brick ; built from the proceeds of 
a State lottery in 1814. It has a president, (Dr. Nott,) 
several professors, lecturers, and tutors, a register, &c, 
a library of ten thousand volumes, a museum, and che- 
mical and philosophical apparatus : two hundred and 
fifty students. 



Schenectady — Amsterdam. 55 

Con-nugh-harie-gugh-harie, or a great multitude col- 
lected together, was the Indian name of this place, and 
the tribe of Mohawks, it is well known, that they had their 
council fires in this valley, could muster their thousands, 
and strike terror into their enemies ; (see Colden's His- 
tory of Five Nations.) The Indian name of Schag'h- 
nack-taa-da, or beyond the Pine Plains, was applied to 
Albany. A few of the old Dutch buildings yet remain, 
and also a bridge ever the Mohawk, nine hundred and 
ninety-seven feet long, (erected by Burr, noted in for- 
mer days as a bridge builder.) There are rich and ex- 
tensive flats in the vicinity. 

The Utica and Schenectady Railroad, 

20,000 shares ; capital $ 2,000,000. The right of way 
cost $322,470, besides the Mohawk turnpike, $62,500, 
and the construction of the road, $1,988,000. Receiv- 
ed from passengers in four years and five months, (the 
mail, and all other sources, since being finished up to 
first of January 1841,) is $1,618,517. The expenses 
being in same time $552,598 — leaving as nett 
profits, $1,085,918, or seventy-one per cent. The 
dividends thirteen and a half per cent, per an- 
num on 81,500,000 that were received from stock- 
holders, and $300,000 from dividends — total divi- 
dends in four and a half years, $917,000. Cost of road 
per mile, with motive-power, $18,446 ; the grading 
being for a double track, and so laid in the centre for 
twenty miles, and two miles of turn-out. The light 
flat iron bar is used. They are not permitted by the 
state to carry freight to compete with the grand Canal, 
though much inconvenience is felt from this restriction 
by the public. 

After leaving the branch road to the Springs, the 
main road adheres to the north bank of the Mohawk 
for seventy-four miles, and no line of rail-road could be 
more happily devised, or ably and triumphantly achiev- 
ed than this, in its entire course. 



56 Amsterdam — Caughnawaga. 

Amsterdam, sixteen miles from Schenectady, and 
sixty-two from Utica, is a small village, and has a run 
of watering and manufacturing power, (Chuctanunda 
Creek, a fine mill-stream from Saratoga County, falls 
one hundred and twenty feet, one hundred rods from 
its mouth near by,) and was the residence of the John- 
son family before the Revolutionary war, Col. Guy, 
Sir William, and Sir John, all staunch and consistent 
loyalists to their king. The stone house, one mile from 
the village, on the south side of the railroad, was 
built by Col. Guy Johnson, and the one a mile onward 
was occupied by Sir John, all famous in the colonial 
history. 

A bridge extends across to the south side of the Mo- 
hawk in Florida, and if the cars breathe a minute or 
two, or take in water, the traveller can spring out and 
enter the restaurateurs for hot coffee and refreshments, 
that opportunely occur at intervals of about twenty 
miles. Four miles onward at Tribe's hill, observe at 
the south side of the Mohawk River, and east side of 
the Schoharie Creek, the site of old Fort Hunter, 
Queen Anne's Chapel, and the old Mohawk Castle, fa- 
mous in oar early history. There also were some rude 
Indian paintings, or daubs of human figures on the rocks 
forming the banks of the Mohawk here. 

The outlet of the Schoharie Kill, that rises on the 
northern slopes of the Catskills, and the canal dam and 
bridge, or tow-path across, together with the entire 
valley and fore-ground, is a combination of pleasing 
features of art and nature. 

Caugnawaga, twenty-four miles from Schenectady, 
and fify-two from Utica, and four miles from Johns- 
town, thirty-nine from Albany, was an Indian village, 
and a principal town of the Mohawks, and signifies a 
coffin, from their being in the river opposite that place 
a large black stone. The present race of inhabitants 
are descended from Scotch, Dutch, German, and east- 
ern or Yankees. The Hall erected by Sir William 
Johnson in 1773, and occupied till his death, was four 



Fonda — The Nose — Palatine Bridge. 57 

and three-quarter miles from this to the north, and on 
his farm was fought a battle by the Americans under 
Co]. Willett, and the Indians and their allies, the twen- 
ty-fifth October, 1781. Most persons recollect Sir 
William Johnson's adroit reply to an Indian dream, in 
allusion to the fine red cloth and lace cloak that the 
Indian chief unluckily dreamed that Sir William had 
presented to him, and that Sir William gave without 
hesitation ; but soon after, he had his dream, that the 
Indian had given him a large tract of rich land, that 
the Mohawk gave up with equal liberality, but said 
that he should not dream again with the honorable 
baronet. 

Fonda, a short distance from the previous place, has 
the county buildings, and a fine new court-house is 
erected. The county seat has recently been transfer- 
red here from Johnstown, as the county of Montgomery 
also extends south of the Mohawk to Schoharie and 
Otsego. The church at Johnstown, built by Sir Wil- 
liam, and containing his remains, was burnt in 1836. 

The Nose, thirty miles from Schenectady, is another 
protuberance of St. Anthony, that like its namesake 
on the Hudson, before described, see p. 20, here inter- 
poses an obstruction from a high spur coming down from 
the north, or right hand, that required considerable 
wrenching or blasting, to admit of the railroad, and 
give sufficient right of way for the modern improve- 

j ments. 

Palatine Bridge, thirty-five miles from Schenectady, 

, on the south side of the river is Canajahorie and the 

j railroad to Catskill, seventy miles. 

A corn-mill, constructed by the Indians, of a circu- 

i lar hole in the rock, into which was fitted a large stone 
to grind their corn, formerly existed here above the 

I nose, and gave the name of Bread Creek to the small 
stream. 

From Canajoharie to Cherry Valley are stages. 

I Three miles west of Palatine Bridge, we are near 

I Fort Plain, and Sharon Sulphur Springs on the oppo- 



58 East Canada Creek — Fall Hill — Little Falls. 

site shore, where Capt Butler, from his bloody visit to 
Cherry Valley, came and tomahawked the settlers at 
this remote frontier post. 

Four miles west of Palatine Bridge, we cross the 
East Canada Creek, on the line between Montgomery 
and Herkimer Counties, (thirty-nine from Schenectady,) 
and in six miles arrive at Little Falls, (fifty seven miles 
from Schenectady, and twenty-one from Utica,) and in 
three miles pass Gen. Herkimer's grave on the south 
side of the river, near a brick house on a hill. 

Fall Hill is five hundred and eighteen feet above the 
canal, and seven hundred and twelve above tide in the 
Hudson, and is a spur that puts off to the northwest 
from the Catskill rantre, and is of granite and lime- 
stone intermixed. Vale half a mile wide. A dam of 
fifty feet here would back the water to Oneida Lake. 
The cavities and water-worn rocks indicate a barrier 
formerly at this spot. 

As we draw near to the opening in the mountains, 
or as we approach the Little Falls, the contour of the 
scene becomes more impressive ; the hills on the op- 
posing sides converge, restricting the river and the 
Erie Canal on the south, and the railroad and the old 
turnpike on the north to the narrowest possible limits, 
and bringing them all under the eye of the visiter. 
The excavations in the solid rock for the purposes of 
the railroad, almost equal those made for the canal, 
and claim our admiration and approval, both for the 
remarkable facilities allotted by nature in the forma- 
tion of this celebrated pass or gap on the Mohawk, (it- 
self a prolonged deep valley or pass, extending exactly 
in the desired course for a hundred miles, thus admit- 
ting, side by side, a canal and road on the south side of 
the river, and the railroad and turnpike on the other, 
leaving, in fact, very little use for the river, except to 
yield its waters to fill the canal ; thus exemplifying 
the reply of Brindley, the engineer, who, when asked 
his opinion as to the use of rivers, replied, "to feed 
navigable canals,") and also for the boldness and orig- 



The Valley of the Mohawk. 59 

inality of the heads that conceived, and those that 
planned and executed, in an incredibly short period, 
the various massive and enduring works of art that are 
here concentrated, and brought into prominent relief 
before and around us. 

The eight old locks and excavations, on a puny 
scale, of the " Western Inland Lock Navigation Com- 
i pany," made forty years since, to obviate the obstruc- 
tions and render navigable the Mohawk River through 
to the Oneida Lake, are here seen amid the rocks and 
j rapids, as a memorial of the earliest attempt made in 
; this State to introduce" canal navigation ; but this did 
j not remunerate the projectors well, and when the Erie 
j Canal was effected, the State finally paid one hundred 
] thousand dollars, to satisfy the claims of the stock- 
I holders in the old concern, (about one fifth part of their 
• expenditures.) There are at this village one hundred 
I and fifty houses, a church or two, a bank, and the 
i whole has a substantial appearance. 

The traveller on the railroad cannot do justice to the 
\ immense extent of the public works and expenditures 
^ here exhibited to him by the State of New- York, and 
} by the Railroad Company, in merely giving a birds-eye 
4 view as he flies rapidly along, at the general and com- 
,| bined effect : for here are not only locks, canals, rail- 
i roads, and other roads, but also viaducts, aqueducts, 
,, water-falls, race-ways, mills, machinery, and a noble 
j stream urging its triumphant and foaming path over 
.1 its rugged bed in the very rnidst, and giving vast life, 
.j vigour, and animation to the assemblage of objects, 
{ but the face of the hill, also, is full of the memorials 
.)of the changes that time and the elements hav^ 
>J wrought out on the rocks in the lapse of ages, that to a 
j geologist, or man of science, will be replete with inter- 
i esting recollections. 

ri For several miles the beetling and rocky precipices 
(j encroach very closely upon the scanty line of road, and 
jj barely admit of a joint use of the space for the three- 
.jfold purpose of the canal, river, and roads, The beau- 



60 Gulf Bridge — Herkimer. . 

tiful Aqueduct that spans over the entire volume of the 
Mohawk, that is here compressed into its narrowest 
limits, rests on two arches of fifty, and one of seventy 
feet, and thus forms a navigabie feeder for the canal, 
one hundred and seventy feet long, and a link between 
the north and south shore. It is also a leading feature 
in the picture, and the curious traveller that is not sat- 
isfied with a transient and hasty glance, can leave the 
car to explore around for a few hours in this highly in- 
teresting region, and proceed in the next train. Cross 
by the railing on the side of the aqueduct and descend 
on the stone bridge, and take a view of the central arch 
with the basin beneath, and the chutes that come pour- 
ing down, and then scramble up to the top of the 
mountain to catch a view of the Mohawk valley for 
twenty or thirty miles, and examine the five locks, 
and the foundations of the Canal, skirted by the deep 
and rapid river, and the huge rocks and mountain 
profiles. 

The long level of seventy miles on the Erie Canal, 
without a lock, commences at number fifty-three, and 
extends on through Utica, Whitestown, Rome, Verona, 
Lenox, Sullivan, Manlius, Lodi, Salina, to Syracuse, 
Onondaga county. This comprised the easiest portion 
of the canal, and was the first finished in 1817. 

There will be no more mountain scenery compared to 
this, for the traveller to behold, for several hundred 
miles west, unless he quits or diverges from the beaten 
track ; but there may be equally gratifying or varied 
scenes. 

The Gulf Bridge is a span of one arch of one hun- 
dred and sixty feet wide, and fifty above the stream, 
that occasionally discharges a very heavy body of water 
collected among the mountains and wild lands north of 
the Mohawk. In this vicinity much labour and expense 
was incurred by blasting rocks and forming embank- 
ments. 

In the township of Herkimer we bid adieu to the 
rough and rocky features around the Little Falls, and 



Railroad to Syracuse. 61 

the road immediately enters upon a more sylvan scene, 
still adhering to the vicinity of the river, that is pretti- 
ly skirted with dwarf trees and shrubs, and is seen 
meandering throughout for seven miles across the cele- 
brated German Flats, a most fertile tract ; but during 
the war of 1756 between the English and French, the 
Canadians and savages invaded this peaceful vale, to 
kill, burn and destroy. The road then passes over West 
Canada Creek (Trenton Falls being a few miles north, 
see p. 64) by a good bridge, and in half a mile we are 
at Herkimer, the eounty town, sixty-four miles from 
Schenectady, and fourteen from Utica, in the midst of 
the rich flats. It has one hundred and fifty houses, and 
twelve hundred inhabitants, a court-house, a jail, and a 
neat church. The village is pleasant to the eye, and the 
buildings comfortable. There is an obstruction made 
across the West Canada Creek, that forms a cascade 
above the bridge, and a canal is cut to the Mohawk, for 
mills. 

In five miles, the road crosses the Mohawk river to 
Frankfort, on the south side of the Mohawk, and con- 
tinues for nine miles through a series of fine farming 
lands, that indicates our approach to an inland city, that 
soon looms up at a distance with prepossessing effect, 
and we find ourselves in the capacious Utica depot 
buildings, having finished one of the most lovely rides 
possible, and a feast to the eye throughout, and passed 
in a rapid flight of four hours, along the most attractive 
parts of the State. 



The Kailroad to Syracuse, 

leaving Utica, adheres to the vicinity of the monot- 
onous level of the Erie Canal, &c, continues to Rome 
in Oneida county, fifteen miles, in a northwest course ; 
leaving here it recrosses the Canal, and then assumes a 
southwest direction through the same county, touching 
Verona Centre, and crossing the Oneida Creek into 
6 



62 Railroad to Syracuse — Vtica. 

Madison county and through the small hamlets of Can- 
estota, Sullivan, and Chittenango ; Fayetteville and 
Orville, in Onondaga county, ending in fifty-six miles 
at Syracuse ; the route being through in some parts, a 
dense forest, and over morasses and swamps. It has 
been completed by the railroad corporation solely, with- 
out any aid from the Legislature, at an expenditure of 
about 900,000 dollars, and has proved a most pro- 
ductive investment ; it was also accomplished by the 
contractors within the period allotted, about a year, and 
at less expense than was at first supposed it might ab- 
sorb. Cram's pile-driving machine produced this result 
by its rapid and powerful operation ; there not being 
also any very difficult or expensive portions, such as 
deep cuts, excavations, or embankments, or construc- 
tions of masonry. The line, after leaving Syracuse, is 
continued over the Skaneatelass outlet, by up the valley 
of Nine Mile Creek, to Carmillus and Elbridge, and 
another corporation, twenty-seven miles to Auburn in 
Cayuga county, on the outlet of the Owasco Lake, for 
forty-eight miles westward, across the outlet of Cayuga 
Lake and the marshes, and to Waterloo on the Seneca 
outlet, thence to Geneva and Canandaigua. The next 
twenty-eight miles to Rochester, on the Genesee, being 
finished and in constant use by a throng of travellers. 

From Rochester, thirty-two miles of railroad in a 
southwest direction, continues the line of travel on the 
Tonnawanta Railroad Company's route to Batavia and 
Attica, thus causing a detour of considerable magnitude 
to the north, from a direct western course that might, 
with ease, have been attained from Canandaigua, via 
Bloomfield and Lima, to Avon ; crossing the Genesee 
river to Caledonia, and continuing to Le Roy and Bata- 
via. This fault must be obviated at a future and more 
propitious time. 

Utica contains about ten thousand inhabitants, and 
is a central point for turnpikes, railroads, and canals, 
that radiate from this in all directions : the Chenango 
Canal to the south, the Black River Canal to the north, 



Salmon River Falls. 63 

and the Erie Canal and the railroads to the east, north- 
west to Oswego, and west, and stages in every direc- 
tion. Fort Schuyler, noted in the early history of this 
State, was on a site of a part of this city, near the river, 
and bridge, and the depot, and was an important fron- 
tier post during the wars of 1756, and 1776-83. In 1784, 
after the peace, the first settlement commenced, and 
from 1789 to 1800 it went on prosperously, and has so 
continued to the present time. The internal improve- 
ments of this State, from their concentration hereabouts, 
must ever make this an important inland town, and 
eventually, perhaps, the seat of the Legislature. 

The State Lunatic Asylum is 550 feet long, includ- 
ing wings ; the width of the centre 46 feet, the rest 40 ; 
intended to receive 1000 patients. 

The Salmon River Falls of one hundred and eight 
feet, in the township of Orwell, sixty-four miles north- 
west of Utica, may be visited by taking the stage route 
to Sackett's Harbour, and diverging at Redfield to the 
west, towards the spot. Parties of pleasure may descend 
by water down the river from Redfield, or by land by a 
decent road, being but six miles. The current is mod- 
erate for three or four miles* then two miles of rapids 
occcur, when we arrive at the falls, where the river is 
two hundred and fifty feet wide at some seasons, with 
the banks of slate and granite, or gneiss, rising seventy- 
five feet above the falls on each side ; the waters are 
received into a chasm about one hundred and twenty- 
five or more feet in depth, making the precipice in all 
two hundred feet, and at the foot of the cataract there 
is a deep pool of water replete with fish of the first qua- 
lity, viz. salmon-trout, &c, forming a well known and 
capital reservoir to supply the gourmands and hotels to 
a great distance around, that send here to replenish 
their larders and stock of fresh-water dainties. 

From Lake Ontario, the Salmon River is eight to ten 
rods in width for twenty miles above its mouth, and may 
be ascended in high and favourable stages of water, 
even to the foot of the falls ; and as they are well wor- 



64 Trenton Falls. 

thy of a visit, and have not hitherto been much known 
to the public, or minutely described, travellers will have 
another inducement to explore the hidden beauties of 
the recesses and waterfalls, and the geological forma- 
tions of this extensive portion of the State, that yet re- 
tains much of its primitive wildness. 



Trenton Falls, 

fifteen miles from Utica in a northeast direction, on 
West Canada Creek, are too much in vogue to be omit- 
ted by the traveller in search of amusement, that has 
the least pretension to correct taste, and that follows in 
the footsteps of his predecessors in this fashionable 
route, though it involves the necessity of devoting at 
least ten or fifteen hours, and breaks off from the regu- 
lar routine in going east or west, and abstracts so much 
from the time and the purse ; yet nevertheless, those 
that come or go thus far to see all that is actually wor- 
thy of notice, should by all means, in our opinion, make 
their pilgrimage to this shrine, by forming an agreeable 
party, hiring a conveyance, and leaving Utica early in 
the morning, should it be intended to return in the af- 
ternoon, and devote only one day. The famous trout 
dinners that are usually procured at the hotel near the 
falls, are also one of the enjoyments of the place. 
Though it may excite surprise in some, yet we are con- 
strained to declare, that the sensations awakened in a 
lively and ardent imagination, and the unmingled gra- 
tification derived by the spectator when the glories of 
this exquisite spectacle break upon his view, will for a 
time absorb him in silent astonishment, and leave noth- 
ing more to wish for, so near is it to perfection. The 
traveller will at first be so overpowered by what he be- 
holds, that it is pardonable if he should question if there 
can be on earth an exhibition of falling water equal or 
superior ; but when his gust of feeling is over, he may 
subsequently have reason to change or modify this 



West Canada Creek. 65 

opinion as he travels farther and sees more, compares, 
and reflects, and discriminates, giving to all the due 
meed of praise, but even then, when he reverts to Tren- 
ton Falls in after life, the impression it first made upon 
his mind is strong and enduring, — perhaps unrivalled. 

West Canada Creek is about sixty miles long, and 
rises in the wild tracts, and interlocks with the sources 
of Black River in the high and bleak regions north of 
the Mohawk River, and forms one of the principal trib- 
utaries of the latter, and occasionally vomits forth its 
sudden and dangerous floods and wears and tears its 
impetuous course among the limestone and slaty rocks, 
until, near Trenton, it enters upon a series of descents 
of near forty feet down a ravine that it has worked for 
five miles into every various form of twisted and distort- / 
ed aspect, and at the bridge on the road above tb'e Lit- /L 
tie Falls begins to be remarkable, but three miles be- 
low, and two east of Trenton village, it increases upon 
and absorbs the wonder of the traveller. 

Following the path from the hotel or boarding-house, 
we arrive at the brink of a ravine, bordered by forest 
trees and evergreens of spruce, fir, hemlock, &c. The 
appearance of such a deep ravine in the general sur- 
face, that had not before been noticed in the approach, 
is the source of some surprise, and this is increased as 
we descend the stairway into the depths and gloom of 
the ravine, here, perhaps, one hundred and fifty or two 
hundred and fifty feet deep, and two hundred wide, and 
find ourselves upon a floor or foundation of solid rock, 
and with a very limited extent of blue sky, or the vault 
or arch of heaven above our heads- On glancing the 
eye around the walls of the immense chamber or en- 
closure that encompasses us, we admire the drapery 
that covers and ornaments the rocks, and the lichens of 
scarlet, green, and yellow, the trees that wave over the 
margin, or impend in threatening attitudes, held only 
by a slight adhesion of their roots, jutting from the 
loose soil above, or the shrubs and creeping ivies, trail- 

6* 



66 Sherman's Fall — High Falls. 

ing down in graceful festoons from crevices high up 
and midway on the face of the precipice. 

As we advance slowly up, we note the regular hori- 
zontal arrangement of the limestone that comprises the 
sides, and the clear and massive pavement-like regula- 
rity beneath our feet ; the mechanical form and regu- 
larity of the circular or deep cistern- shaped pools or 
the square race-ways and channels, as though chiseled 
by the hand of art, and leading from reservoir to cas- 
cade in endless variety, and passing through with un- 
ceasing force and rapidity. 

Contemplating in every aspect these wonders of the 
glen, we proceed to the fails in succession, beginning 
with 

Sherman's Fall, thirty-five feet, named after John 
Sherman, the first occupant of the hotel, and one that 
was extensively known as a good lecturer to his visiters 
here on the numerous organic remains that are con- 
tained in the rock to a very remarkable extent, and 
that Mr. Sherman exhibited a profusion of in his 
museum, after giving a capital dinner to his hearers and 
customers. Mr. Sherman formed the path, and placed 
the chains for the security of visiters that have the 
courage and curiosity to place themselves in these try- 
ing, queer, and delicate positions for nervous persons. 

The High Falls, one hundred and nine feet, divided 
into three different and splendid chutes, of thirty-seven, 
eleven, and forty-eight, besides the connecting chain of 
irregular descent or slope, in grand floods or overflows 
are all combined into one descending mass of pure 
snowy-white foam, but in a dreary season it finds its 
way over the rocks in separate channels. 

The Mill Dam Fall has a uniform pitch of fourteen 
feet only, and is one hundred and eighty feet wide. 

The Cascades, and intermediate chain of rapids, have 
a fall of eighteen feet, and are much more compressed 
by the jagged projections of the ravine. 

The Upper Fall is about twenty feet, and is received 
into a capacious receptacle or reservoir, that is tapped 



Stage Route to the Falls of Niagara. 67 

and let off by a wiid ravine, the coup d'csil from 
the bridge, or on the west side of the river, is very 
pleasing, we then have arrived at the head of the ravine, 
and beyond this, we have in a distance of two miles of 
rapids, a descent of fifty or sixty feet. There are other 
falls at and below Conrad's Mills, that do not require 
specific notice. 

When the writer visited these falls, the water was at 
that stage when there was evidently not the slightest 
danger to any prudent, careful person not disposed to 
incur needless risk ; and when the water is lower than 
common, there is still enough that will please and re- 
ward the visiter ; but during the excitement of an over- 
whelming freshet, no one would venture below the 
stairway. 

From Utica an important route extends south, along 
the banks of the Chenango River and Canal, through 
Oneida, Madison, Chenango, and Broome counties, to 
Binghamton on the Susquehannah River, about ninety- 
two miles, and thence east to Catskill, and also south- 
east through Pennsylvania and New- York to Newburgh, 
and also west to Ovvego, Athens, Tioga Point, Chemung, 
Elmira, Painted Post, Bath, Batavia, Buffalo, or from 
Owego over the hills by a good road Wilkesbarre, or 
Valley of Wyoming, or through New-Jersey by way of 
Milford, or Delaware, Morristown and Newark, to New- 
York. 

The ride along the Chenango Canal and the banks of 
the Susquehannah from its source in the Otsego Lake, 
southward to the Great Bend, and thence west for one 
undred and fifty miles, through Binghamton, Owego, 
Newtown, and near the line of the New- York and Erie 
Railroad, is capital, and also from Tioga Point down to 
Wyoming, Harrisburgh, and the coal mines. 

Stage Route f rom Utica to tlte Falls of Niagara. 

( Until the enlargement of the Erie Canal to seventy feet 
width and six feet depth, to admit of the use of steamboats, 



68 Stage Route to the Falls of Niagara. 

or until a continuous line of railroad is effected from Au- 
burn to Rochester and Buffalo.) 

New Hartford, four miles ; Manchester, five ; Ver- 
non, eight ; Oneida Castle, five ; Lenox and Canostota, 
three ; Quality Hill, three ; Chitteningo, five ; (two 
routes from hence to Auburn and Cayuga Lake ; the 
right hand, or northern, near the canal, through Syra- 
cuse, Geddes, Milan, Camillus, Elbridge, Brutus, 
Troopsville, forty miles,) the other as follows : to Man- 
lius, seven ; Jamesville, six ; Onondaga Hollow and 
Creek, four ; Onondaga on the hill, two ; (Syracuse, 
and the salt works, and Onondaga Lake in sight down 
in the valley below, with the canal leading north to 
Oswego on Lake Ontario ;) Marcellus, eight ; (falls two 
miles north, of sixty-five feet ;) and Skaneateless, six ; 
(branch railroad of four and a half miles to the north to 
Auburn and Syracuse railroad ;) Auburn, seven ; Cay- 
uga, seven ; Seneca Falls, four ; Waterloo, four ; Ge- 
neva, seven ; (Canandaigua, fifteen ; to Rochester, 
twenty-seven miles ;) East Bloomfield, nine ; West 
Bloomfield, five ; Lima, four ; Avon, five ; Sulphur 
Springs, nine ; Potosi, two. Cross Genesee River to 
Caledonia Large Spring, eight ; Le Roy, six ; Bavavia, 
ten ; Pembroke, fourteen ; Clarence, eight ; Williams- 
ville, eight ; Buffalo, ten. 

The ride from Utica to New-Hartford, by the Sedagh- 
queda Creek, and line of Chenango Canal, is delightful, 
and indicates at the last place a wealthy, happy people, 
with their handsome, comfortable mansions, fine farms, 
gardens, one hundred and sixty buildings, three church- 
es, and several mills. At a distance of three miles, 
observe the edifices of Hamilton College on the hill one 
mile and a half from the village>of Clinton. The annual 
commencement is on the secor I Wednesday in August. 
There are three colleges, and a church of stone. A 
president, professors of Ethics and Political Economy, 
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, Languages, Mathe- 
matics and Astronomy, one tutor, one hundred and fifteen 
students. The late W. H. Maynard gave it twenty 



Clinton Liberal Institute. 69 

thousand dollars, and S. Dexter fifteen thousand dol- 
lars. 

The Clinton Liberal Institute, in the village of that 
name, consists of a farm for such as desire to pay a 
portion of the expenses of education by manual labour. 
There are two college buildings, one of stone, ninety- 
six by fifty-lwo feet, and five stories high, with forty- 
four rooms for study, a lecture-room, and others for the 
professors. No sectarian or theological instruction ad- 
mitted. 

Baptist Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, 
a stone house, one hundred by sixty feet, four stories, 
has sixty-eight chambers, a lecture-room, library, and 
chapel, a boarding-house, a shop for work, a farm of 
one hundred and thirty acres. Four years is the regu- 
lar course, two for theological ; one hundred and eighty 
students ; tuition sixteen dollars a year ; board, wash- 
ing, and lodging, one dollar a week. 

The same appearance of exuberance and fertility 
continues to Manchester, on the Oriskana Creek, a 
manufacturing village, and also to Vernon, with its 
churches, mills, and glass factory. The Oneida Castle 
and Creek is on the old Indian reservation of the Onei- 
da and Tuscarora Indians, that but recently removed 
from this to Green Bay, or rather to Winnebago Lake 
in Wisconsin. Lenox has one store two taverns, thirty 
houses, one Presbyterian Church. Canostota has four 
churches, four taverns, four stores, and several groce- 
ries and forwarding houses, one high school, and one 
hundred and thirty neat dwellings, and is seen a few 
rods north of the road on the canal and Caneseraga 
Creek. 

Chitteningo Creek and village, a branch canal of one 
mile and a half leads to the Erie Canal, and a small 
settlement, basin, dry-dock, and boat-yard. The village 
contains one hundred and fifty houses, a large Dutch 
Reformed Church of stone, and academy of the same 
sect, and one Presbyterian and one Methodist church 
three taverns, stores, &c. It is on the outlet of Coze 



70 Cazenovia — Mardius — Green Pond. 

novia Lake, from whence there is a descent of seven 
hundred and forty feet, including one pitch of one hun- 
dred and thirty-four feet, giving great water-power for 
eight or ten miles. Two mineral springs in the vale 
one mile above, of sulphur and magnesia; hill on the 
east of calciferous slate, with springs holding carbonate 
of lime, and forming petrifactions in abundance for 
cabinets. 

Lake Cazenovia, or Hawgeno, or Canaleraga, or 
Linklaen, is four miles long and one broad, and is a 
beautiful expanse, environed by a gentle waving coun- 
try. 

The town of Cazenovia is placed at the outlet of the 
lake, and has three hundred houses, neat, substantial, 
of limestone or brick, a bank, a land office, a ladies' 
seminary, and one for Methodists large brick build- 
ings for one hundred and twenty-five boarders, and 
having two hundred and fifty pupils, male and female, 
a Presbyterian, a Congregational, a Baptist and a Me- 
thodist church, five mills, two wollen factories, a wire- 
loom, three hotels, two drug, one book, and ten dry-good 
stores, ashery, tannery, six groceries. Colonel Linklaen 
begun this town in 1795, and it is a charming spot, and 
lands around it are forty to fifty dollars the acre. Can- 
not the traveller step aside for an hour or two, and ex- 
amine this pretty lake and town 1 

Manlius, in Onondaga County, on the east of Lime- 
stone Creek, at the junction of several roads, is ten 
miles south-east of Syracuse, and forty west of Utica ; 
has three churches, one hundred and fifty houses, two 
taverns, six stores, one cotton factory, and several mills. 
One mile south of the village, and on both branches, 
are falls, one of a hundred, and one of fifty feet ; also a 
sulphur spring with petrifying qualities. 

Green Pond is one and a half miles long by three- 
quarters wide, and is sunk two hundred feet below the 
level of the rocky shores, and is two hundred feet deep. 
The surface is a mirror of deep green. It is in the town 
of Jamesville, six miles from Manlius. 



Onondaga West Hill — Marcellus Creek. 71 

Onondaga Hollow and Valley is remarkable for being 
the chief seat of the power of this tribe, one of the con- 
federation of the five nations that ruled this State. The 
Onondaga Creek is a lively stream that runs from south 
to north for ten miles, through a broad rich valley of 
the deepest soil of vegetable mould, and enters the On- 
ondaga Lake at its south-east corner near Salina. The 
old castle or council-house, the ancient seat of Indian 
power, and the reservation and towg recently held by- 
them, was three miles south of the road, in fifty log 
houses on a long street, and perchance some of the 
remnant of the tribe may yet be seen lingering about 
in the neighbourhood, or at Syracuse. The Indian 
name for the whole confederacy was Aganuschioni, or 
United People, and by the French, Iroquois, and con- 
sisted of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, 
Tuscaroras ; these sold out to the State of New- York, 
for two thousand dollars annually, their claim to a large 
portion of the central and western part of this State. 
Some reside on Grand River in Canada, others at Buffa- 
lo, and some are gone farther west. The village set- 
tlement in the hollow has two churches, two mills, an 
academy, one store, three taverns, and sixty houses. 
The vicinity of Syracuse, only four miles, and the great 
canal, have drawn off the business. There is also a 
South Onondaga ten miles from Syracuse, that has a 
church, a store, tavern, and a few houses. There is 
also 

Onondaga West Hill, on the hill that looks abroad 
very extensively over hill and valley, lake and city. 
Here is a Presbyterian and Episcopal church, the old 
court-house, prison, fire-proof clerk's office, two taverns, 
four stores, and fifty dwellings, and some old respecta- 
ble residents, or early settlers. For a description of 
Syracuse, (and of the salt works,) Salina, Liverpool, 
Geddes, and of the lake, see canal. 

Marcellus, on Nine Mile Creek, the outlet of the 
Otisco Lake a few miles south, and that is four miles 
long and one wide, and runs into the Onondaga Lake, 



72 Skaneateles — Auburn. 

has a church, and seventy-five or one hundred houses. 
There is an abundance of fine blue lime stone of good 
quality, and of the water lime or cement, mills, factories, 
&c, and two miles north, falls of seventy feet. 



Skaneateles, 

at the outlet of the lake, is the second of those attract- 
ive lake cities (Ca*zenovia being the first) that we en- 
counter in travelling this great western thoroughfare. 
It contains four churches, an academy, and five grist- 
mills that can make forty thousand barrels of flour an- 
nually, also four saw, four carding and cloth-dressing 
mills^ two woollen' factories, two furnaces and found- 
ries, two machine-shops, four tanneries, two carriage 
factories, two taverns, eight stores, three hundred houses 
and two thousand one hundred and fifty inhabitants. 
The site of the village is unsurpassed in its complete 
command of the lake, that is as transparent as air ; its 
banks romantic, picturesque, and rises into eminences 
of several hundred feet at its southern termination ; it 
abounds with trout in its deep cool waters, that reflect 
like a mirror, the hills and slopes, woods, meadows, and 
pure white farm houses. Petrifactions also abound 
here ; on the east, and on a level with the water, are 
organic remains of the cornu ammonis imbedded in slate. 
Three miles north of the outlet, the creek sinks into 
the rocks below the falls of seventy feet, and is lost for 
some distance, but this is often the case in Florida, and 
in limestone countries. The Indian name of this lake, 
as preserved, means long ; it is fed by springs, and is 
fifteen miles long by one half to one and a half wide. 



Auburn, 

is the third of the series of elegant lake cities ; contains 
eight hundred and fifty houses, and five thousand five 



Auburn — Slate Prison. 73 

hundred and fifty-five inhabitants, a Theological Semi- 
nary, eight churches, twenty-seven schools, two banks, 
capital tour hundred and fifty thousand dollars, court- 
house, jail, clerk's office, sixty-two stores of all kinds, 
and factories of tools, clocks, candles, combs, cabinet 
ware, saddles and harness, looking glasses, leather and 
morocco, boots and shoes, hats, tobacco, bellows, burr- 
mill-stones, coverlets,, carpets, cotton-cards, threshing- 
machines, tea-kettles, japanned ware, steam-engines, 
carriages. There are three bookstores and binderies, 
five merchant tailors, eight blacksmiths, three distille- 
ries, one brewery, three furnaces, four Hour mills, one 
marble-yard, two livery stables, two wool carding and 
clothiers, one dentist, two portrait painters, six milli- 
ners, five dress makers. 

Auburn is two and a half miles from the lake, but 
on the outlet that has ample water-power. The streets 
are wide, paved or macademized, and there are hand- 
some ranges of stone and brick stores, and in the reti* 
red parts some tasteful dwellings and embellished 
grounds. The public buildings built in 1836-7-8 are 
honourable to the inhabitants, and its domes, colon- 
nades, &c, place it far ahead of many other western 
towns. Its hotels are good. 

The celebrated STATE-PRISON may be seen on 
buying a ticket of the keeper, and the best time is early 
in the morning, when they are brought out of their cells 
and arranged in squads, close as they can squeeze, in 
Indian file, stepping off and stamping hard with a sim- 
ultaneous lock-step, eyes to their overseer, head erect, 
each bearing his pail on one of his folded arms in perfect 
silence, entering their various shops, and kept at con- 
stant labour during the regular hours, till four o'clock 
P. M. when the muffled bell is struck, all labour is sus- 
pended, and the convicts, eight or nine hundred, return 
in the same manner to their cells, and are separately 
locked up for the night. The most minute precision is 
required in all their movements. The walls that form 
the inclosure are thirtv-five feet high, four thick, and 
7 



74 Aureiius. 

two thousand feet in extent, or five hundred feet each 
front. The interior yard has ample reservoirs of water, 
and a range of work-shops of brick, lighted in the sides 
and roof. The cost was over three hundred thousand 
dollars, not includiug the convict labour. The Owasco 
Creek flows alongside the prison walls on the south. 

It is seven miles to the Erie Canal at Weed's Basin, 
and stages ply constantly to and fro, and twenty-six 
miles by the railroad to Syracuse, there are great quan- 
tities of gypsum, or plaster of Paris, quarried on this 
route, and abundance of the best limestone. 

Aureiius, four miles west of Auburn, has two taverns, 
two stores, and twenty houses. Cayuga, three miles 
further, at the foot of the Cayuga Lake, has a church, 
high school, three taverns, four stores, and forty houses. 
The longest bridge in the State, it being one mile and 
eight rods, here extends over and across the lake, and 
gives the traveller in passing, a satisfactory view of the 
lake, and its highly beautiful and cultivated shores, far 
as the eye can reach. A steamer runs to and from lthi- 
ca daily, from the bridge, to meet canal-boats at certain 
hours. (Travellers intending to go to Ithica or Owego 
should, at Utica or Syracuse, or at Auburn, where they 
agree to take the stage, only pay the fare to the Cayuga 
bridge, and take the steamboat for Ithica, and arrive at 
the head of the lake, thirty-six miles, in three or four 
hours.) Just before his arrival there he will notice on 
the east shore a foaming cascade come pouring down 
the ledge of the slate-rock. 

A car starts on the railroad for Owego soon after 
the boat arrives at Ithica, and travelling but slowly, gets 
in about seven or eight o'clock ; twenty-nine and a half 
miles ; the most defective route in the State. Good 
hotels are at Ithica, and fine views in the environs, es- 
pecially on the summit of the hill overlooking the town, 
and lake, and shores, with its parti-coloured squares of 
farms and woods. The effect of the distant aerial per- 
spective is grand. 

A stage leaves Ithica early the next morning for Bath, 



Ithica — Bridgeport. 75 

twenty-two miles, at the head of the Seneca Lake, and 
arrives in time for the steamboat that goes down for 
Geneva, unless the tourist inclines to remain at Bath, 
to breathe a few hours and look around. 

Itlaaca 

is our fourth city of the lakes. In front, and between it 
and the head of the lake, are three thousand acres of 
alluvial flats, from which the hills ascend on three sides, 
amphitheatrically, five hundred feet, with truly magni- 
ficent effect, and the picturesque character of the envi- 
rons is improved and made eminently attractive by the 
Fall Creek, the Cascadilla, and Six-mile Creeks, that 
find their way over the hills, and pay tribute to the Cay- 
uga. Fall Creek rises in Lock Pond, Summer Hill, Cay- 
uga County, fourteen hundred feet above tide, and flows 
south and south-west thirty miles, and falls near Ithica 
within one mile, four hundred and thirty-eight feet over 
rocks of dark gray wacke slate ; this is best seen from 
the bridge or steamboat. The last fall is one hundred 
and sixteen feet, down a steep succession of narrow 
ledges of rock or stairway to the lake level. The rocks 
each side above the falls, rise one hundred and ten feet, 
and enclose a pool for the mills below, that is drawn 
off or tapped, by a tunnel through the rock, thirteen 
feet high, twelve broad, and two hundred long, and is 
made to be used five or six times with a twenty feet 
head of water. The Cascadilla leaps down a gigantic 
stairway one hundred feet, and Five-mile Creek is still 
more surprising. 

There are five churches, a court-house and prison, 
clerk's office, thirteen mills, four factories, thirteen tav- 
erns, twenty-eight general stores, many groceries, 
druggists stores, four printing offices, two book-stores, 
one bank, capital two hundred thousand dollars, and 
one of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, eight 
hundred dwellings, and four thousand inhabitants. 

Bridgeport, at the west end of Cayuga bridge, con- 
tains a store, two taverns, and thirty dwellings. 



76 Seneca Falls — Waterloo. 



Seneca Falls 



is three miles west of the Cayuga Lake and Bridge, on 
the Seneca River, the outlet of the Seneca Lake, and 
where there is within tweive hundred yards, a heavy 
water-power of forty-seven feet over four dams. In 
seven flour mills are twenty-four runs of stones that 
make eighty five thousand barrels of flour. Of other 
mills, are one for paper, six saw, four plaster, three 
clove, and two oil, one clothing works, one clock and 
one cotton factory, dyeing and bleaching, one furnace, 
three sash and window-blind factories, one tannery, 
one distillery, one machine shop, four taverns, six law- 
yers, five physicians, twenty stores, five hundred dwel- 
lings, and three thousand five hundred inhabitants ; 
five churches, a newspaper and printing office, an acad- 
emy. In 1827, only two hundred and sixty-five inhab- 
itants. Land sells fifty to seventy dollars the acre. 
The water power can drive two hundred thousand spin- 
dles. At Chamberlain'' s Mills, two miles from the 
above town, and one from Waterloo, is a flouring and 
plaster mill, and fifteen houses. The lively aspect of 
the town of Seneca Falls strikes the stranger most 
favourably, and denotes that from its water power and 
manufacturing propensities here it is destined to be a 
flourishing vicinity, a wealthy and comfortable popu- 
lation. 



Waterloo, 

four miles from Seneca, is also on the river or outlet of 
Seneca Lake, and has three grist, two oil, two saw- 
mills, two distilleries, one furnace for castings, two tan- 
neries, three clothiers, pail, tub, churn, and wooden 
bowl factory, one ashery, one boat-yard, one newspa- 
per, two large hotels, three taverns, twelve dry goods, 
and one hardware store, court-house, jail, six lawyers, 



Geneva. 77 

live physicians, three hundred and fifty houses, three 
churches, two thousand inhabitants. This is also an ac- 
tive, bustling place. Seven miles to the west, we ar- 
rive at 



Geneva, 

following the northern shore, and crossing the outlet 
or drain of the lake, where there is a strong current is- 
suing out of clear, green, pure water. 

The land between the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes 
rises into very Jofty hills, and is capital soil for wheat, 
but liable to drought. From the roads skirting each 
lake, and surmounting the hills, are a series of splendid 
views. There are eight churches. The Geneva Col- 
lege is under the regents of the University of the State 
of New- York, and has a President, a Professor of Math- 
ematics and Natural Philosophy, of the French, Ger- 
man, and Spanish, of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and 
application to Agriculture and Arts, of Engineering and 
Statistics, besides two tutors. There is a Medical de- 
partment, with Professors of Chemistry, Anatomy, and 
Physiology, of Instruction and Practice of Medicine, of 
Surgery, of Obstetrics and Materia Medica, and of Med- 
ical Jurisprudence and Botany. Not confined to classics. 
Students fifty-three. Buildings of stone. 

Geneva, our fifth lake city, is situated at the north- 
west corner of Seneca Lake, on a fine slope, giving the 
inhabitants a noble view of the lake, and those residing 
on the east side of the street have terraced gardens 
down to the lake, that have an admirable effect. The 
rest of the town is on a summit one hundred and twen- 
ty feet above the lake, giving a view to all, as it rises 
in gradations, and covered with neat villas and seats, 
court-yards, gardens, &c. The compact part is on low- 
er ground. Families enjoying wealth and leisure, find 
this a desirable residence. A steamboat leaves this 
place daily, at 7 o'clock, A. M., for the south or head 
7* 



78 Canandaigua. 

of the lake, for Jeffersonville, and is back at night. 
During the lake trip, observe on the east shore, the 
town of Ovid on the height of land, eighteen miles, and 
the capital farms occupying the hills far as the eye can 
reach ; and opposite is Dresden, where the waters of 
the crooked lake come in from the west, and where that 
female humbug, Jemima Wilkinson, had her farm and 
her followers, as all fanatics in this country can readily 
procure Mormons and Matthias, &c. Long, or Elephant 
Point, is four miles south. In six miles south is Jemi- 
ma's walk in or on the water place of exhibition, and in 
six miles south is Starkie's Point, with deep water 
close in shore, and in four miles more, a fall of one 
hundred and thirty-six feet, and in a ravine still farther, 
is a fall of one hundred and fifty feet in the town of Hec- 
tor, three miles from Jeffersonville. The lake is ice- 
proof, or so deep, (553 feet,) that it never freezes, but 
steams it profusely in cold weather. 

From Geneva is a branch canal of fifteen miles to 
the Erie Canal. Wheat, barley, wool, whiskey, beef 
and pork, pearl and potashes, butter, flour, lumber, 
glass, and grass seed, are bought up here for eastern 
markets. Eight miles west of Geneva is Flint Creek, 
running north into the Canandaigua outlet at Vienna, 
eight miles north ; and in seven miles from Flint 
Creek, is 

Cauaiictaigna, 

our sixth lake city, contains three thousand inhabitants, 
and five hundred dwellings, some of them not exceeded 
in style or good taste in architecture by any city or place 
whatever. The great charm and most attractive feature 
in this suburban villa, is the embowered and rural aspect, 
the neatness of the front yards, and of the ample gardens, 
pleasure grounds, walks, shrubberies, shaded and paved 
streets and side-walks, and all those agreeables deno- 
ting comfort, good society, and wealth. It is on two 
long paralletetreets, north and south, and others at right 



Rochester. 79 

angles. Has four churches, an academy for males, and 
one ior females ; the former edifice is eighty by forty, 
three stories high \ expense of tuition, board, &c. one 
hundred dollars per annum. School teachers are edu- 
cated and taught. The Ontario bank with a capital of 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a branch of the 
Utica bank with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
eight public houses, including two large hotels, Blos- 
som's and Pitt's. There is a fine view of the lake from 
all parts of the town. The lake is fourteen miles long, 
and one and a half to two broad ; has a steamboat that 
trips ltdaily for the accommodation of the public and of 
strangers. The Burning Springs are on each side of 
the lake, three miles off, and in Bristol, eight miles south- 
east from Canandaigua, and also one to two miles 
southwest of Rushville, in a long valley, and in winter 
they form openings in the snow, and the fire being ap- 
plied, the novel sight of a flame rising out of the snow 
is witnessed, and in very cold weather, tubes of ice are 
formed around these currents of gas to the height of two 
or three feet, the gas issuing from their tops, and when 
lighted, more brilliant than the former. 



Rochester, 

twenty-seven miles from Canandaigua, in a northwest 
direction, can be visited by stage and the railroad* taken 

* Tonnawanta Railroad was constructed in the following cheap 
and simple manner: " Large posts of twenty-four or thirty inches in 
diameter were placed on each side of the track opposite to each other, 
and to enter the earth firm and hard, to sustain the side timbers of the 
traek, and squared at the top. Each set of posts ten feet apart. Upon 
the top of these posts were laid transversely, sticks of timber twelve 
or fifteen inches in diameter, mortised on the upper side near each 
end, to receive the longitudinal timbers, that, being from sixteen to 
twenty inches in diameter, hewed only on the upper side, and intended 
for the support of each of the rails, were let into the mortises of the 
transverse timbers, and supported by them at the posts. This, where 
embankments were made, gives a very substantial frame-work of the 
proper grade. On the top of the longitudinal timbers, wooden rib- 
bons, as a substitute for iron rails, were laid. Railroad cars were pro- 



80 Avon Springs. 

for thirty-two miles thence to Batavia ; or the traveller 
can take the canal to Lockport, and see the wonders 
there, the huge double locks, the grand natural basin, 
and the deep rock excavation of several miles, and by 
railroad thence to Niagara Falls, or continue on by canal 
through the entire route once, and take some other 
method in returning. Whichever way may be adopted, 
we shall perfect our stage route, however, west of Can- 
andaigua, and after crossing two small streams running 
north, in nine miles we arrive at East Bloomfield, with 
its two churches, two taverns, two stores, thirty houses, 
one tannery, situated on high and commanding ground, 
and having the most celebrated farms and choice wheat 
lands. Five miles beyond, we reach West Bloomfield, 
and in a mile we cross the Honeoye Creek, the combined 
outlet of three small lakes at eight or ten miles south, 
that runs into the Genesee River, and in four miles we 
arrive at Lima ; the whole distance from East Bloom- 
field being through farms in first-rate order, fence, and 
keeping. To East Avon five, and the Post Office two 
miles more from Lima, passing the notoriously rich val- 
ley of the Genesee Flats, and ten miles south, the Wads- 
ivorth Farm at Geneseo, and Mount Morris, (for the 
falls of Genesee, also for the line of the canal extending 
from Rochester south, up the Genesee Valley, see 
index.) 

The two Avon Springs rise within an eighth of a 
mile from each other, about a mile south of the village. 

cured to carry earth, with four boxes each, turning on hinges, to drop 
the earth between and over the sides of the rails. These cars were 
loaded at places of excavation, moved by horse-power on the track to 
make embankments. The same frame-work was used and put down 
where excavations were made. When the road was finally prepared 
for operations, pine scantling, three by four inches, were laid on the 
longitudinal timbers, and iron plate rail on the scantling, and all se- 
curely fastened by heavy spikes seven inches long." In a country like 
this, abounding in timber, this is the most economical, but not dura- 
ble. This whole timber work, except the scantling, is covered with earth 
to prevent decay, and the frame-work and earth add mutual support 
and strength. This does well, and if cars run off the track, they are 
received on the ground, and not on cross timbers. 



Le Roy. 81 

It is useful for its sulphureous qualities. Here are three 
boarding-houses, much resorted to by the country peo- 
ple; a remarkable pond enclosing Indian works, and a 
root that is peculiar to the fiats here, of gigantic size, 
may be worth inquiring for. 

After crossing the Genesee River on a substantial 
bridge, the road varies its course to the northwest, and 
in eight miles we arrive at the Big Spring at Caledonia, 
that must be seen as it is near at hand, and is quite an 
anomaly in its way, bursting out a full grown mill-race. 
This is probably the lost water from Allen's Creek at 
the high falls in Le Roy, seven miles west, and they 
rejoin that stream in two or three miles north in 
Wheatland. A stage runs from this to Rochester, 
twenty miles northeast. Here are two Presbyterian 
churches, four taverns, four stores, one flouring and one 
saw mill, one brewery, and sixty houses. 

&e Koy, 

on an eminence on Allen's Creek, is our next agreeable 
looking settlement in six miles from the Big Spring, 
and here are the falls that supply it through apertures 
in the lime-stone rock that prevails in this region. Here 
are four churches, two large mills, each with four runs 
of stones, and making forty thousand barrels of flour 
per annum, one oil and one plaster mill, a furnace for 
castings, a tannery, a machine factory, fifteen stores, 
three taverns, four lawyers, five doctors, fifteen hundred 
inhabitants, two hundred and fifty houses of stone, with 
gardens and grounds on a liberal scale, and very pleas- 
ing to the stranger. The land office for the triangular 
tract is here. The fall here in Allen's Creek is eighteen 
feet, and in one mile, twenty-seven feet more, and in 
two miles is one of eighty feet. The Creek at Le Roy 
has a stone bridge of three arches. Beyond this creek 
we enter on the'great plain of the west, throwing off 
streams on all sides. Look for more petrifactions on the 
bed of the creek six hundred feet north of the bridge. 



82 Batavia. 



Batavia, 

ten miles from Le Roy, is situated on the Tonnewanta 
Creek ; and is the first stream that we have thus far 
encountered that pays its tribute to the Niagara above 
the Falls. The stream pursues a course from east to 
west, on an elevated rocky plateau, about four hundred 
feet higher than Lake Ontario, and seventy or eighty 
above Lake Erie. The highest terrace in the southern 
part of Genesee county is eight hundred feet above 
Lake Ontario, consequently rises four hundred feet in 
thirty-live miles, less than twelve feet to the mile, and 
not perceptible to the eye, being almost a dead level, 
and having barely descent to drain the country. The 
elevation is by ridges, as is seen by the streams cutting 
through the rock to the north. From this elevated pla- 
teau the drain to the west is to Lake Erie ; on the east 
to the Genesee River, and on the south to Cattaraugus 
Creek. The Tonnawanta has a meandering course of 
forty miles in a valley two to four miles wide. 

Here are three churches, a land office, a bank, capital 
one hundred thousand dollars, a flouring mill with four 
runs of stones, three large brick hotels and five taverns, 
and one thousand six hundred and fifty inhabitants. 
Lands within three miles of the village sell from twenty 
to forty dollars the acre. A railroad of thirty-two miles, 
called the Tonnawanta, extends to Rochester, and others 
to Buffalo and Lockport will soon be finished. Here are 
many neat residences of the wealthy land-owners of the 
vicinity. East Pembroke post-office is six miles west 
from Batavia. West Pembroke post-office is at Richville, 
eight miles farther. Clarence Hollow, or Kensent Grove, 
has a church, forty houses, one ashery, one grist and 
saw-mill, one distillery, one tannery, two taverns, five 
stores, three groceries. Williamsville, ten miles north- 
east of Buffalo, has a Catholic Church, a grist, saw, and 
water lime mill, and a quarry of the same, fifty houses, 
four groceries, one dry goods, two taverns, one tannery. 



Buffalo. 83 



Buffalo, 

the queen of the lake cities, is admirably situated at the 
outlet of Lake Erie, and at the head of the Niagara 
river, and at the western extremity of the Grand Erie 
Canal. There is a railroad of eighteen miles leading 
to Niagara Falls, and a series of railroads to Batavia, 
Rochester, and from Auburn to Syracuse, Utica, Sche- 
nectady, Albany. From the terrace the land rises by a 
very gentle acclivity for two miles to a level plain, pre- 
senting a wide and enchanting view of the lake, the 
Niagara River, the canal, and its branches, the city and 
the Canada shore. The streets are broad, and intersect 
usually at right angles. There are three public squares, 
a bank, and some airy wide streets, with neat villas, 
court-yards and gardens, a lyceum and library. The 
Erie Canal is continued along the entire lake in front 
of the city to Little Buffalo Creek, with frequent lateral 
cuts and basins, bringing all the lower part of the city 
in reach of the canal facilities. 

A mole or pier of wood and stone of fifteen hun- 
dred feet long, extends from the south side of the creek, 
out into the lake, so as to form a partial break-water, to 
protect boats and shipping from the violent gales that 
are felt, though still- water is made for a mile on the 
creek, and a ship canal eighty feet wide, and thirteen 
deep, and seven hundred yards long, is also now made. 
A light-house on the head of the pier, of dressed yel- 
lowish lime-stone, forty-six feet high and twenty in 
diameter at the base ; is a durable structure, and orna- 
mental to the city. The cost of the pier, &c. was about 
one hundred thousand dollars, seven-eighths being paid 
by the United States. 

Buffalo is the port of entry for the Niagara District, 
including Silver Creek, Dunkirk, and Portland, and all 
above the Falls. It is the depot of the trade for the 
upper lakes, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and part of 
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, including a lake coast of 5,71$ 
miles. 



84 Buffalo. 

The city has twenty-five thousand inhabitants, three 
thousand houses, one hundred and tifty-two streets, fif- 
teen churches, two seminaries, many district and select 
schools, two theatres, a court-house, jail, two hundred 
stores, three banks, aggregate capital one million, many 
hotels and taverns, six newspapers, and a great variety 
of manufactories. It is divided into five wards, and has 
a mayor and common council that are elected annually. 
Its streets are paved, regular, and laid out in reference 
to the natural slopes : a portion of it that was formerly 
low and marshy near the creek and lake is liable to be 
submerged during violent storms. 

The buildings are in general decent, some are splen- 
did, and the stores recently erected are four and five 
stories high. Nearly two-thirds of the merchandise re- 
ceived at Buffalo goes no farther, being for the use of 
the city and vicinity. Sixty mails arrive and depart 
weekly. Postage in 1835, twenty thousand eight hun- 
dred and eighty-one dollars. The amount invested by 
her citizens in steamboats, and lake vessels, canal boats, 
&c. about one million ; advances on freight and produce 
passing east and west, two millions; manufactures 
yearly, two millions ; and sales in addition, one million 
seven hundred and forty-eight thousand seven hundred 
dollars ; expended in building in a year, one million one 
hundred and thirty thousand dollars ; arrivals and de- 
parture of vessels in 1835, in two hundred and ten days, 
was seven hundred and twenty steamboats each way ; 
other vessels, nine hundred and twenty each way ; 
canal clearances, five thousand one hundred and twenty- 
six ; tolls received, one hundred and five thousand six 
hundred and sixty-three dollars. The University of 
Western New- York is here established on a liberal 
foundation, by endowments or donations to the amount 
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The terrible 
revulsion and derangement of the currency in 1837 pros- 
trated for a time the energies and growth of this place. 

The town was originally laid out in 1801 by the Hol- 
land Land Company, on the hill or terrace, fifty feet 



Buffalo — Senaca Reservation. 85 

above the lake, and in part on the low ground or marsh 
towards the lake and creek. The draining of the marsh 
has rendered it fit for building, and it is now the busi- 
ness part of the city. 

The Lake Erie boats leave at regular intervals in the 
morning and at night. Boats are despatched to the 
Upper Lakes as often as the case requires. At each 
port sufficient time is allowed to take in freight and 
provide every luxury for passengers. The prices are, 
to Cleaveland, in the cabin, five dollars; steerage, two 
dollars and fifty cents. Detroit, six dollars ; steerage, 
three dollars. 

The prices of freight charged : 
From Buffalo to Chicago, Light, per 100 lbs. 87 1 cents. 

" " " Heavy, " 62£ " 

" « " Barrel bulk, $150 " 

" " Silver Creek, Dunkirk, and 

Barcelona, 25 a 35 « 

" « Erie, Grand River, and 

Cleaveland, 27 a 50 " 

" " Ports above Cleveland, to 

Detroit, 30 a 46 « 

During one week twenty-seven steamers and thirty- 
eight brigs and schooners entered the harbour of Buf- 
falo, bringing forty-four thousand two hundred and 
seventy-four bushels wheat ; fifteen thousand nine hun- 
dred and eight barrels flour ; one thousand four hundred 
and twenty-five barrels pork ; two thousand six hun- 
dred and fifteen bushels corn ; two hundred and fifty 
casks ashes ; seven hundred and nineteen hides ; fifty- 
seven bales of buffalo robes and deer skins — besides 
immense quantities of fish, glass, brooms, staves, &c. 
The business of the canal is great ; frequently thirty 
boats arrive in one day, and sixty are cleared from the 
collector's office for the east — all well loaded. 

The Seneca Reservation has nine hundred Indians, 

including some Onondagas and Cayugas, is from three 

to four miles southeast of Buffalo, and is eighteen miles 

by seven on Buffalo Creek and its branches, and amounts 

8 



86 Grand Island, 

to forty-nine thousand acres fertile, and reaching near 
the city bounds. North of the reserve, the average 
price of improved farms is twenty-five dollars, and south, 
twenty dollars the acre. Within five miles from the 
city, they are from one hundred to three hundred dol- 
lars per acre, caused by the Indian lands not coming 
into market, and by the vicinity of the lake restricting 
the lands in that direction. 

Limestone lies in deep horizontal stratified masses on 
the banks of the Niagara, between Buffalo and Black 
Rock. Bird Island, opposite Black Rock, is a naked 
rock frequently under water. Squaw Island, at the foot 
of the Black Rock rapids, contains one hundred and 
thirty-one acres. Strawberry Island, one hundred acres. 
Beaver Island, thirty acres. Rattlesnake Island, forty- 
eight acres. Tonnawanta Island, sixty-nine acres. 
Cayuga Island, Buckhorn Island, Goat or Iris Island, 
seventy-five acres. 

Grand Island (Owanungah) begins five miles from 
the lake, and measures around its edge twelve, and in 
width three to six miles, and ends three from the Fails; 
contains seventeen thousand three hundred and eighty- 
four acres covered with oak of the first qualily for ship 
building. A company from Boston now own it, and 
have a village called White Haven, of fifty families and 
two hundred workmen, opposite the mouth of Tonna- 
wanta Creek, and a steam, grist and saw mill, one hun- 
dred and fifty feet square, and room for fifteen gangs of 
saws ; many workshops, a school, and church ; a long 
wharf and timber dock. Frames of ships are selected 
and sent to the sea-board, employing fifty canal-boats 
and several sloops. The steamboats from Buffalo touch 
here to Chippewa and the Falls ; and the ferry over this 
branch of the Niagara is one hundred rods wide. The 
island is alluvial, and is a bed of blue clay forty-seven 
feet deep, far as penetrated, in which are found water- 
worn stones, but no water ; that from the river being 
used. 

Black Rock is three miles north of Buffalo, opposite 



Black Rock. 87 

Waterloo and Fort Erie, in Canada. The river is three 
quarters of a mile wide, and runs with a current of six 
miles an hour, and is twenty feet deep. Ferriage twen- 
ty-five cents. The water is of a sea-green colour, pure, 
clear, and sprightly, almost sparkling ; from Black 
Rock to the Falls the banks are eight to ten feet above 
the river, and a plain extends on all sides, the river is 
not much below the level of the bank between Grand 
Island and the main, or at the Tonnawanta. The har- 
bour of Black Rock is four thousand five hundred and 
sixty-five yards long from south to north, and from eigh- 
ty-eight to two hundred and twenty yards broad, or one 
hundred and thirty-six acres of surface. It begins in 
the lake at Bird Island and is continued by a mole of 
double wooden cribs filled in with stone, eighteen feet 
wide, and two thousand nine hundred and fifteen yards 
to Squaw Island, raised from one to four feet above the 
surface of the river, rising gradually towards the north, 
and is continued across the Island one thousand four 
hundred and thirty yards, to a dam one hundred and 
sixty-five yards long, that connects the island with the 
main, and raises the water in the harbour four and a 
half feet to the lake level, and has a lock to pass ves- 
sels out and in. The depth of water in the harbour, 
fifteen feet; the medial distance from the shore to 
Squaw Island is forty, and the mole uniting the islands, 
sixteen rods. The harbour forms part of the canal that 
leaves it opposite Bird Island, and passes into Buffalo. 
From the head of the water at the dam, four and a half 
feet, great water-power is available, and here are four 
flouring mills with twenty-five runs of stones, one grist 
mill, two saw, a stave, carding, and fulling mill, one 
iron foundery, and steam engine manufactory, a distil- 
lery, and grinding mill, a saw and shingle mill, and the 
unemployed power here is enough to drive one hundred 
mills. There are five stores, five taverns, and three 
hundred and fifty dwellings, and two thousand one hun- 
dred inhabitants. A team ferry-boat plies across to 
Waterloo. 



88 Fort Schlosser — Navy Island. 

Fort Schlosser was a stockade erected by the British 
in the war of 1756-9, on the east bank of the Niagara 
River, at the mouth of Gill Creek, one mile and a half 
above the Niagara Falls village, and just above the 
commencement of the rapids. This is the upper-landing 
place for the portage around the Falls, to Lewiston at 
the foot of the mountain ridge, seven miles at the lower 
landing in Niagara River. The ridge itself is three 
hundred and fifty or sixty feet above the river, and 
twenty-five feet higher than the land at Schlosser, and 
is the highest land between the Tonnawanta and On- 
tario. The fort was surrendered to the United States 
by the British in 1796. It has recently become noto- 
rious for the capture and destruction of the steamboat 
Caroline, (that was moored at this wharf,) by a detach- 
ment of British soldiers and seamen from Chippewa, 
that cut her loose, after killing those that resisted, 
towed her out in the current, when she was sucked in- 
to the rapids, and went over the falls. 

Navy Island contains three hundred acres, is of a 
shape nearly triangular, and is the first island between 
the grand rapids and Grand Island, and being nearest to 
the Canadian shore, and west of the main channel of the 
Niagara, it is attached to Upper Canada, the boundary line 
between the United States and Canada being in the 
middle of the main channel from lake to lake. The 
recent military occupation of this island in the winter 
and spring of 1838, for a short period during the dis- 
turbances in Canada and along the frontier of the 
United States, by a lawless band of outlaws and des- 
peradoes, has given this small island more celebrity 
or notoriety than it deserves from its fearful position 
a few hundred yards above the grand cataract. Be- 
low this, and to Goat Island, and from Chippewa over 
to Schlosser, a distance of two and a half miles, any 
boat venturing impiously to intrude upon the green 
and glassy surface of the alluring stream, will be drawn 
into the rapids, and swept down to inevitable de- 
struction. 



Niagara Falls. 89 

Above the Rapids, the iivo branches of the Niagara 
River that enclose Grand Island and the other small 
islets, come sweeping down with intinite grandeur, and 
unite their waters for the last time previous to their 
absorption into the angry confusion of the surge and 
rocks that form the rapids. The motion of the immense 
ocean of waters is grand, is magnificent, full of its con- 
scious power, and profound and overwhelming influence, 
advancing with increased impetus to the brink of the 
first shelf of the descent, when the entire breadth of the 
river, about thirteen thousand feet, is received into the 
rocky glen or rapid slope, and sinks from ledge to ledge, 
arrayed in huge and wild masses to receive the shock 
of this tumbling ocean in its passage over a sloping 
distance of perhaps four thousand feet, and of only fifty- 
five of actual descent, but the impregnable and immov- 
able rocky asperities of the underlying rocky foundation 
are such as to raise, toss, scatter, and part this phalanx 
of waters into an infinite variety of jetts, cascades, and 
forms of beauty and sublimity ever new, changeable, 
and wonderful. To the uninitiated and unreflecting 
traveller and spectator, that perhaps approaches this 
scene for the first time, from the south or west, or from 
a distance up the great Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, 
and Superior, over such interminable oceans and inland 
seas of fresh water ; and sees the whole moving mass 
here concentrated, swallowed up in a sudden subsidence 
or opening, and plunging into a tremendous abyss in 
the solid rock, three hundred feet deep, and a mile 
broad, the sight is overwhelming and magnificent. 

" I will remember the works of the Lord. Thou art 
the God that doest wonders. The waters saw thee, O 
God, the depths also were troubled, the earth trembled 
and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the 
great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." 

The best positions for viewing the rapids are near 

Chippewa, on the road down from Buffalo, on the west 

from Erie and Waterloo. This is preferable in some 

respects, and gives the first bird's-eye view as the river 

8* 



90 Niagara Falls. 

descends, and the traveller ascends to the hill north of 
Chippewa, The table rock is another favourable place 
to get a front and complete panoramic coup d'ceil, or in 
walking along the. shore on either side, or in crossing 
the bridges to Bath and Iris Islands ; but the best and 
most central, is from the upper extremity of Goat Isl- 
and at the tower, &c. But artists may, and do differ 
even in this respect ; but to many travellers, the young 
especially, the rapids are the most attractive and de- 
lightful part of the enjoyments of a few days at Niaga- 
ra. To the older and more mature, the crescent, or 
Horse Shoe Fall, and the one on the United States' 
side may be more gratifying. 

Looking at the rapids from Goat Island, directly up 
stream, with the full angle or inclined plane of the 
rapids before us, the endless torrent comes booming and 
bounding onward in high curling and dashing waves, 
that would soon annihilate all opposition, but the ab- 
rupt subsidence of one ledge ana 1 plain below the pro- 
ceeding one, breaks the continuity of the wave, and it 
darts onward in another wave and plunges till it reaches 
the precipice. The water passing down, between the 
main eastern shore and Bath Island, under Porter's 
bridge, is clear, and not very deep, but runs with such 
amazing rapidity and violence over the rocky bottom, 
that in crossing the bridge, the whole structure appears 
to be moving bodily towards the precipice with fearful 
effect ; in fact, strong nerves are required in the trav- 
erse. 

The Falls on the eastern or American side of Iris 
Island, are one hundred and sixty-four feet in the leap, 
and nine hundred feet wide between the Island and the 
main, and descends perpendicularly in one clear, glassy 
sheet, that is partially broken into foam in its course, 
and is enveloped and obscured in mist about one-third 
or one-fourth of the height from the river below. The 
Fall between Luna and Iris Island is two hundred and 
forty feet wide of itself, and is included in the total 
estimate of nine hundred feet. 



Iris or Goat Island. 91 

To appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the Fall 
nearest to the stairs, (six hundred and sixty feet in 
width,) descend the stairs, and at various stages or steps, 
pause and contemplate the astounding, and terriffic, and 
all-absorbing scene; the world of waters, that never 
ceases to plunge into the river on the rocky masses, 
and to glance off its spray and scattered waters with 
extreme violence, like small shot, with a force that de- 
fies all attempts to face it unmoved, or unshrinking, or 
to resist the whirls of air that issue forth with stifling 
effect. When at the bottom of the stairs, and of the 
slope at the edge of the river, again direct the eye up- 
ward to the falling wa'ers, that from this position are 
beheld with the fullest effect, and also the lofty, preci- 
pices of rock mantled with the moss and hue of ages. 

The bridge extending over the American rapids to 
Bath Island is four hundred and seventy-six feet long, 
resting on piers or cribs of logs, filled in with heavy 
masses of stone, and the bridge from Bath to Goat Isl- 
and is two hundred and seventy-two feet, made in a 
similar manner. Bath Island is four hundred feet 
long, has two acres of surface, the toll-house, (fee 
twenty-five cents,) and a large paper mill and a bathing 
house, and is connected by bridges with two islets, the 
Ship and Brig, that brave the fury of the rapids, and 
help to ward off or break its force, in impinging against 
the Bath and Mill, and thus the most is made of these 
mere stepping-stones, bridges, and rapids, and after 
stepping in the toll house and examining the album 
kept there, and inserting name and date, pass over the 
last bridge to 

Iris, or Goat Island, that is half a mile long by a 
quarter wide, and contains seventy-five acres of land, 
well timbered with beech, oak, maple, &c, mantled 
with vines and cryptogamous shrubs or plants, that 
have most judiciously and commendably been preserved 
by the estimable and worthy proprietor in their pristine 
wildness and native beauty. A neat walk covered wit' 
gravel has been made near the skirts of the Island, a - 



92 Biddle Stairs. 

vistas introduced to direct the stranger, and to exhibit 
the whole surrounding scenery to the best possible ef- 
fect. This enchanting little Island, enthroned in the 
midst of the furious rapids, and parting aside even the 
gigantic tide of inland waters that presses upon it with 
threatening vehemence and resistless power, is now 
rendered intensely interesting to the visitant, by the 
facilities in approaching it over the formerly impassable 
and virgin rapids, that had rarely before been attempted 
by the daring effort of man, but are now safely open to 
public curiosity and gratification, and the hitherto hid- 
den beauties and secluded recesses of this charming 
spot satisfactorily unfolded. There is not, there cannot 
be under the arch of heaven a more interesting or aw- 
ful place in all creation than this, with its auxiliaries 
of surpassing glory and grandeur, to irradiate, guard, 
ennoble, and animate the panorama that here environs 
the awe-struck, astonished, and delighted traveller. 

After making the circuit of the island, and gazing 
for the first time upon the prominent features and won- 
ders of the place, in a transient or cursory manner, re- 
turn to the northern face of the precipice, and explore 
the Biddle Stairs, but first cross the romantic, ticklish 
bridge to Luna Island, on the verge to this central Fall, 
that, when viewed from the Canadian shore, at a mile's 
distance, is almost lost, or appears but a mere ribband 
in comparison with its more imposing neighbours, yet it 
is of very reputable width of two hundred and forty feet, 
presenting a snow-white, foaming appearance, that if it 
stood alone, like the Montmorency at Quebec, would 
of itself have numerous pilgrims to lavish their admi- 
ration upon it, but here it is subsidiary and subordinate, 
yet eminently graceful and pleasing. 

The front of the precipice of Iris Island is of limestone 
tinge, with the venerable hues of time, presenting a 
uniform facade of about a thousand feet facing to the 
north-west, and separating by its intervention the two 
grand divisions of the falls, the eastern and the western, 
and it rises to the height of one hundred and eighty-five 



Biddle Stairs. 93 

feet above the level of the circular gulf below the falls. 
The visit of the patriotic Nicholas Biddle, Esq. of Phila- 
delphia, to 1 this place in 1829, resulted in his causing' 
this capital stairway to be constructed at his individual 
expense, for the public accommodation, and we hope it 
will be carefully retained, repaired, and preserved * 
This erection facilitated and opened up to public admi- 
ration many new points of view, before unapproachable. 
The first flight of steps continues for forty feet, when 
a six-sided or hexagon building, or inclosure of wood, 
sixty-five feet high, containing the spiral, or geometrical, 
or cork-screw stair-case of ninety steps, lands the giddy 
explorer upon the top of the debris at the foot of the 
mural precipice, whence three traces or walks diverge 
to new points of attraction. One is directed to the 
water's edge, eighty feet still farther downward. Anoth- 
er to the left, or west, to the great Horse- Shoe or Cres- 
cent Fall Another to the right, conducts to the most 
singular novelty of all, the cave, or head quarters- of 
JEolus, the god of the winds ; and no name could be 
better chosen, or more literally correct, for the cavern 
is fifty feet wide, one hundred high, and one hundred 
and twenty deep, and is directly behind the centre fall, 
and the visiter may safely approach to, and pass through 
it, and emerge at the foot of Luna Island, and wonder 
at his temerity in risking it ; and after looking around 
from this peculiar position, he can even advance, with 
cautious steps and slow, and perchance have a peep 
behind the watery curtain that veils over the rock that 
sustains the main portion of the American Fall ; but let 
him not attempt, in fool-hardy spirit, to risk any further 
progress towards the American stairs that are yet seve- 
ral hundred feet beyond him, with a crushing weight of 
water also eternally falling from a height of one hundred 

* Dr. Hungerford, of Troy, was instantly killed at the falls. In com- 
pany with Lindsey, the guide, he had descended the Biddle stair-case 
on the American side, and was standing near the water, when a mass 
of rock, weighing several tons, fell from the bank above, a height of 
one hundred and fifty feet, directly upon him. Lindsey suffered a se- 
vere contusion on his left arm, but was not otherwise injured. 



94 Terrapin Bridge and Tower. 

and sixty-four feet, equal to an ordinary church steeple. 
The noise both at this point and at the cavern of the 
winds, where it is increased and reverberated with ten- 
fold violence, is utterly astounding and overwhelming-, 
and is sui generis ; and it is glory enough to any one to 
have been thus far successful ; and if satisfied, let him 
retrace his steps to the foot of the spiral Biddle, and try 
his luck in a descent towards the western curtain or 
crescent fall, that sometimes permits the veil of its 
mysteries also to be penetrated for a short distance with 
similar impunity. Let us now ascend the one hundred 
and eighty-five feet to the summit of the Iris, and find 
our way westward by the gravelled walk to the 

Terrapin Bridge and Tower, the most daring achieve- 
ment to construct, reaching three hundred feet out from 
the Iris Island, including the extension up the stream 
of the rapids, and the Tower of stone, forty-five feet high, 
done in 1833, with steps leading and winding up to 
the top, and from the dizzy summit that is thus safely 
attained, the crowning feat of human and almost super- 
human efforts, undertakings, or even imaginings, the 
traveller that has thus far periled his life to gratify 
his vain and unbounded curiosity, and that says to 
himself, what man has done, man can do ; and what 
others have here seen, I may also behold, perhaps, in 
safety, will not, perchance, withdraw from the bridge 
or the tower without claiming the full fruition of his 
gratified curiosity as the reward of his hazardous and 
expensive journeyings. Of all appalling and terrible 
sites for man to place himself upon to glut his insatiable, 
presumptuous desire to draw near to the very brink of 
destruction, and to cast a withering, heart-sickening, 
trembling look into the vortex where no human being 
can enter but to be instantly passed into the abyss of 
eternity, this is the threshold to contemplate, creating 
horrible sensations of mingled fear and shrinking back 
of the mind and heart, in thus madly venturing into the 
presence of the power that can annihilate in a moment 



Terrapin Tower. 95 

all that thus profanely intrude into the domains between 
time and eternity. 

The site of the tower is but four or five hundred feet 
from the deepest portion of the main channel of dark 
green water, that occupies the crescent-shaped part of the 
Niagara, and is also within a few feet of where the rapids 
are tumbled over the precipice in a sea of milk-white 
foam and richness of inimitable perfection and beauty. 
A very slight illustration of this appearance, as it ap- 
pears to a spectator at the falls on the east side near 
the American stairs, may be cited, by comparing it in 
a small way with the descent of a heavy mass of snow 
from the roof of a tall house, in a thawing day, when 
the mass comes down in successive and ponderous, yet 
feathery-looking pure white volumes, with a splash and 
crash that causes a rebound one-third of the way back 
towards the place from whence it came. Now the 
whole fagade of the principal fail is two thousand one 
hundred feet, and this is eternally curtained with this 
feathery foam, as before described, except the deep cres- 
cent, and is falling from a height of one hundred and sixty- 
four feet, the pure majestic cenral current of the deep 
mysterious crescent, with a width of two hundred feet, 
appears to roil onward like a gigantic wheel, clogged 
and moving with difficulty in a huge snow drift, advan- 
cing towards the spectator. This grand effect is pro- 
duced from the fact that this ocean of fresh water flood 
does not descend exactly perpendicular, but from the 
angle of inclination of the rapids, (above fifty-one feet 
in four thousand, or about three-quarters of a mile,) 
the huge, lumbering mass of waters forms a waving 
arch of unknown thickness, on whose pure bosom of 
dark green may be traced white spots, or banks of foam, 
that can be followed by the eye for several seconds, as 
they descend over the snaky undulations of the deep 
crescent, and are lost in the spray and obscurity of the 
profound gulf below. 

The ferry or passage over the river to and from the 
American stairs and Canadian shore is perfectly safe, 



96 The Crescent or Horse- Shoe Fall. 

and the water is much Jess agitated than would be ex- 
pected so near the falls ; but this is the only safe cross- 
ing between the falls and Lewiston, six miles below, 
as the fury of the rapids, eddies, and whirlpools below 
the ferry, render all attempts to cross elsewhere imprac- 
ticable, and madness itself. 

Estimates of the quantity of water discharged vary 
from forty to eighty-five millions of tons the hour, and 
the depth of the pool, at two hundred and fifty feet. A 
carriage-way is now making through. the lofty banks on 
either side to the plain above. . 

The Crescent or Horse- Shoe Fall) comprising in 
magnitude and volume seven-eighths of the entire body 
of the Niagara River, is reserved to the last in our 
description, and the customary and nearest approach to 
it from this shore is by advancing to the edge of the 
celebrated table rock near enough to touch the skirt of 
the rapids that come sweeping around on the right 
hand ; this, however, is in fact a most perilous stand, 
a mere shelf or thin slab of limestone rock but two or 
three feet in thickness at its extremity, where it over- 
arches out forty feet beyond the general line of the 
rock beneath, and fissures already indicate that a speedy 
disruption of this part of the rock will inevitably occur; 
but such is the heedlessness of man, and the thought- 
lessness and intrepidity of the ladies, that this is always 
the flirting-place where visiters take their initiation into 
the wonders of the raging & conflicting elements beneath. 
Perhaps as good a view with a better fore-ground may 
be obtained, combining perfect safety also, by resort- 
ing a few rods north beyond the stairs, receding more 
from the brink. The stairs near by, like the Biddle, 
are spiral, winding round a tall pine centre that reaches 
to the top of the debris of rocks that have fallen from 
the arch above, from whence a path leads along to the 
right, at the foot of the precipice, with an overhanging 
arch of rock forming a complete semi- vault, open on the 
left to the panorama of the entire chasm and its body 
of billowy ocean floods. 



VIEW of ih< I ■(> I'XTJi > 

round 1 1><- 
PALLS of NIAGARA 




Albany. 97 

To pass behind the falls to termination rock, visiters 
apply at the museum or shanty near the stairs to the 
keeper, who must have his regular fees, and will fur- 
nish suitable dresses and a guide that will descend with 
and conduct the adventurous explorer, with many cau- 
tions as to his conduct, step by step, taking hold of his 
hand, or holding by a narrow ledge of slate rock, and 
with a very slimy, eel-covered, precarious, slippery foot- 
ing ; and as the falling body of water is neared, the 
breath is with difficulty preserved from the whirls of air 
and spray that issue forth from the cavern blinding and 
drenching at the same time ; but, once in for it, onward 
is the word, groping in uncertainty and obscurity for 
one hundred and fifty-three feet, till you can proceed 
no farther, a projecting rock completely barring all fur- 
ther progress, when the guide puts his mouth close to 
your ear, and says " look up ;" the eye is cast up to see 
the thick vault of waters that comes like a deluge, near 
enough to allow a play or space of a few feet between 
the vast body of water and the solid rock, when it be- 
comes requisite to turn about on a pivot, as it were, and 
return, feeling and groping along by the same path you 
came, and after emerging into full light and freedom, 
and ascending the stairs and re-dressing, &c, the guide 
gives you the famous certificate of your having gone to 
the termination rock, and that affair is finished. 



Grand Route by the Erie Canal from Albany 
to Buffalo. 

Albany, the present seat of the state government, 

was first settled in 1612 to 1614, after Henry Hudson 

had made his exploration in 1609, up as far as the Mo- 

i hawk river, in search of a passage to the East Indies, 

for the Dutch company at Amsterdam. It was, at that 

j period, a bold and hazardous attempt to plant a colony 

[ of Europeans even on the coast of the Atlantic, and still 

| more such a distance in the interior ; but the advantages 

9 



98 Albany. 

that it presented for trading with the aborigines for furs 
and peltries, in this their strong hold, outbalanced and 
quieted all objections and fears in the view of enormous 
gains tQ be realized by the traffic that was, for fifty years 
or more, carried on by the company as a close monopoly ; 
indeed, for a long time no adventurer from the city of 
New-Amsterdam, now New- York, was permitted to 
ascend the Hudson River for traffic, unless licensed 
specially for that purpose. 

In 1664 the transfer of the colony to the English en- 
sued, and the name of this spot was changed from New 
Orange to Albany, after the Duke of York and Albany, 
and a charter granted by the English Govenor Dongan, 
defining the boundaries of the settlement, viz. one mile 
front on the Hudson, and extending back in a north- 
west direction 13 to 14 miles, nearly over to the Mohawk 
River ; a very narrow and yet liberal grant. The city 
is now divided into five Wards, and has a Mayor, ten 
Aldermen and Assistants. It is in north lattitude 42 Q 
39/ — and from the level of the river, has a front of a 
mile and three-quarters of compactly built spacious 
warehouses and dwellings, arid extending west several 
blocks to Market-street, the main artery of the city from 
north to south, from which it rises gradually to Pearl 
through the central State-street to the termination at 
the Public square and the Capitol, at an elevation of 
150 feet, and at the western bounds of the summit level 
it attains 67 fest more, in all about 217 feet, thus giving 
the city, on approaching it by the river, or from the 
east shore, a very enticing appearance, as it is presented 
on a tolerably steep acclivity that recedes from the 
river towards the west, and discloses its prominent edi- 
fices to the utmost advantage. 

There are 100 streets, and a population by present 
estimate of 35,000 — besides a fluctuating mass that ar- 
rive and depart daily by steam, stage, and cars of sev- 
eral hundreds that are concentrated here as a focus — 
here are 21 churches, 12 hotels, 6 banks, total capital 
$ 2,150,000 — 4 insurance companies, 14 charitable so- 



Public Buildings in Albany. 99 

cieties for various nations, and an asylum, and 2 daily, 2 
half- weekly, 7 weekly, and 3 monthly papers — a Coun- 
ty and the State Medical society, Agricultural and Hor- 
ticultural society — an Apprentice's library, a very su- 
perior reading-room for young men, free to strangers, 
with lectures twice a week, and a debating society — 
the atheneum, and a library of ten thousand volumes. 
The Albany academy for females, in Pearl, north of 
State-street, is a building that pleases the eye by its 
beautiful white portico, and is said to be in high repu- 
tation. The Albany academy, on the north side of the 
public square, is an expensive edifice of the reddish or 
brown sandstone, with a front of 90 feet, and three sto- 
ries high, that cost near a hundred thousand dollars — 
it has Professors of the Latin and Greek, and of Math- 
ematics and Natural Philosophy, and of Modern Lan- 
guages — and there are four tutors. 

The Albany Institute has its apartments in the acad- 
emy, a library of 2,000 volumes, and ten thousand speci- 
mens in its museum in geology, mineralogy, botany, 
coins, and engravings. There are nine district schools, 
and seven thousand children instructed. 

Stanwix Hall, built of granite, with a dome, and the 
museum of white marble, at the corner of State and 
Market-streets, and the splendid City Hall, also of white 
marble, and a gilded dome of unique appearance, on the 
east side of the public square, are all fine edifices, as is 
the State House near by. 

The Capitol, where the State Legislature convene, 
and the rooms of the Chancellor and Supreme Court 
are held, and the State Library is contained, and other 
places of public business, occupies the most prominent 
situation in the city, at the head of State-street, and has 
a portico of the Ionic order. There are portraits and 
busts in this edifice, and in the City Hall. The Capi- 
tol is one hundred and fifteen feet long, ninety broad, 
and fifty high, and from its steps, or summit, is a most 
enchanting view of the Hudson River, and City, &c. 

There are three academies for females, and a classic- 



100 Mineral Spring — the Basin — Erie Canal 

al school. The Baptist church in Pearl, and the Dutch 
in Beaver and Hudson-streets, are entitled to notice, as 
neat and tasteful edifices. There are Bible, Prayer 
Book, Tract, and Musical Societies, and a Theatre. 
The public square in front of the Capitol, is well laid 
out, and has a costly iron railing. 

The six or eight breweries, of noted excellence, pro- 
duce to the value of half a million a year. Six Iron 
works, $226,000. Oil cloth, rope, cabinet, hollow, and 
stone ware, snuff, tobacco, hats, carriages, sleighs, har- 
ness, plated and silver ware, coach lace, looking-glasses, 
types, morocco, sperm candles, &c, are all manufactur- 
ed here. 

A ride to Troy, Lansingburg, Waterford, Niskayuna, 
or the Shaker settlement, six miles, and to the Cahoes 
Falls, on the Mohawk, and along the canal and double 
locks, and excavations, and dams, and acqueducts, 
will well repay the transient visiter, and occupy a day 
most agreeably. Stages ply to Troy on the hard mac- 
adamized road every half hour, fare 12| cents. A view 
of the great avalanche that overwhelmed the inhabit- 
ants at the base of the hill, or rather to see the place it 
occupied at Troy, is of itself worth a visit, as well as 
the city itself, and its celebrated female school. Cars 
ply to Schenectady four times daily, at eight, ten, three, 
and five — a ferry to Bath and to Greenbush — but the 
contemplated tunnel under the Hudson is not yet made. 

CollocWs Mineral Spring, six hundred and seventeen 
feet deep, gives, on analysis, muriate and carbonate of 
soda, carbonates of lime, and magnesia, and iron, and 
acid, similar to the water of the Congress spring at Sar- 
atoga. The spring, with the garden, &c, is worth a 
visit. 



The Erie Canal Basin, 

containing an area of thirty-two acres in the Hudson 
river formed by the pier, eighty feet wide, and four 



The Basin — Erie Canal. 101 

thousand, three hundred feet long, extending parallel 
with the shore to protect the entrance and exit of canal 
boats at the lock, and afford facilities for reception and 
discharge of produce and merchandise in safety into the 
adjoining warehouses and sloops, is a work of great 
utility and of small expense, it having cost but $130 
000, and is very profitable to the proprietors. There 
are many steamboats for carrying passengers between 
this city and New- York, that leave at seven in the mor- 
ning, and five in the afternoon, daily — others also to 
Troy, besides tow-boats. 

In the spacious reservoir or basin, the grand portal 
or introduction to the Erie and Champlain canals, may 
usually be seen, in the business season, an assemblage 
of boats from the numerous towns and villages that bor- 
der on the canals and the small interior lakes that are 
connected therewith, and intermingled with the river 
and coasting craft ; here are motley groupes of fresh 
water and salt-water sailors and boatmen, besides the 
crews of the steamers that are usually ranged outside 
of the pier, and throngs of strangers and passengers hur- 
rying to and fro across the bridges that lead from the 
city to the pier, amid carts and carriages, barrows and 
vehicles of all kinds, urging onward to extricate from 
the confused melee — this is peculiarly the case on the 
departure or arrival of the larger class of steamboats, 
when crowded by their several hundreds of passengers. 

The tedious mode of travelling by canal, between 
Albany, Schenectady, and Utica, has long since been 
supplanted by the rail-roads with their flying cars, as 
detailed at page 45 ; yet it may still be desired by some, 
to trace the method adopted in 1825, by travellers, and 
used for several years, to examine this interesting por- 
tion of the canal, up the Hudson, and branching off to 
the west in the valley of the Mohawk. 

By departing from Albany, at an early hour in the 
morning, in one of the line boats bound for the west, 
though several hours are required to pass the twenty- 
eight and a half miles, and twenty-four locks, to Sche- 
9* 



102 Erie Canal — the Patroon — Gibbonsville. 

nectady, yet to those that can spare the requisite time, 
and that are fond of this quiet, easy, safe mode of trav- 
elling 1 , there is much to be seen in the distance to re- 
ward the curious stranger ; and it can be enjoyed with- 
out fatigue, and at a trifling expense. 

Passing out of the basin, by the first lock of eleven 
or twelve feet rise, a long reach or level of seven miles, 
with only one lock, is entered upon, that is parallel with, 
and but a few rods from the Hudson river on the east, 
and the beautiful garden and grounds of the Patroon, so 
called, (or Patron, or great land owner,) a descendant 
of the original Dutch patentee of the large manor of 
Rensselaerwyck, a very extensive tract on both sides of 
the Hudson, this being near the central point of the 
grant of twenty-four miles north and south on the riv- 
er, and forty-two miles east and west, (one thousand and 
eight square miles, or six hundred and forty-six thou- 
sand one hundred and twenty-eight acres,) bounded by 
Massachusetts on the east, and by Schoharie county on 
the west, and by Schenectady, Saratoga, and part of 
Rensselaer counties on the north, and by Columbia and 
Greene counties on the south. This immense landed 
estate, except the city of Albany and other tracts owned 
by individuals, is the undoubted and clearly established 
and recognized property of the Van Rensselaer family, 
derived by their ancestor, Killian Van Rensselaer, that 
by permission of the Dutch Government in 1630, 1631, 
1637, 1648, and 1649, purchased of the Indians ; and 
these purchases were fully confirmed in 1641, by the 
government of Holland, and by that of England, under 
Governor Dongan, in 1685, on the 4th of March. The 
last of the Patroons, Stephen Van Rensielaer t died 1839, 
26th January, at 4 P. M., the moment when the great 
hurricane was raging at New-York, and on the sea-board. 
The estate, that has been estimated at a value of sev- 
eral millions of dollars, will now be divided among the 
large family and heirs of the late Patroon. 

At the termination of the first reach before stated, we 
are at, or near West Troy, or Gibbonsville, opposite to 



Gibbonsville — U. S. Arsenal — Erie Canal 103 

the city of Troy, on the east side of the Hudson. Here 
are five hundred and twenty dwellings, and three thou- 
sand five hundred inhabitants — the Bank of Watervliet, 
capital $150,000 — manufactories of various kinds, one 
of India rubber — side locks lead to the river, and a 
bridge to Tibbett's Island. The surplus water from the 
adjoining canal, yields all the power required for me- 
chanical operations, and may in some measure be con- 
sidered as a suburb of Troy, and with that is identified 
in its growth and prosperity. 

The United States Arsenal covers a large space, with 
the canal passing in close contiguity ; here are usually 
large stores of arms and munitions of war, skilfully 
and artfully arranged in neat brick or stone buildings, 
and some relics of the revolutionary war are here to be 
seen, in cannon taken at Saratoga and York town, and 
others of brass, of antique form, presented by the King 
of France. 

Two locks, of eleven feet lift each, next conduct to a 
level of a mile or two that brings us to the junction of 
the Erie with the Champlain Canal, (leading north to 
Whitehall, sixty-three and a half miles ; see page 44,) 
and to the steps, or ridges, that are surmounted by nine 
locks, of eight feet lift each, that are formed of the 
white marble of Westchester county, and are ninety by 
fifteen feet in the chamber, as are all the original locks ; 
the boats are five minutes in getting through each lock, 
and the canal begins here to incline gradually to the 
north-west, and as it rises above the Hudson, there is 
a charming panoramic view of the hills back of Troy 
and Lansinburg, and of the low grounds and island in 
the delta of the Mohawk. . 

The next three locks, of eight feet eight each, or 
twenty-six feet, is near the bridge that conducts, or 
connect, the road over the Mohawk to Waterford, — 
from the bridge is a glimpse of the falls above and the 
dam that raises the river below, to enable the boats that 
are bound north to cross above the dam in the slack 
water, though at considerable hazard. The next two 



104 Cahoes Falls. 

locks rise nine feet each, and in half a mile we encoun- 
ter, for six hundred feet, the first deep cutting, viz. 
twenty-six feet, in transition argelite, and arrive by the 
side of the 

Calioes Falls — a Dutch church and a farming set- 
tlement, the Boglit or Cove; and the manufacturing 
village of the Cahoes company is here located, and 
contains a factory for cotton and woolen, and one for 
hosiery of cotton, linen, and woolen, on newly invented 
looms, one for edge tools, a mill for turning-lathes, an 
iron foundry, a carpet factory, an Episcopal church, two 
taverns, and shops, and stores, and sixty dwellings. 
The falls are in full view of the village and of the canal, 
and have seventy-eight feet descent. Above the cata- 
ract, the left or north bank has an elevation of one hun- 
dred feet, and below it has one hundred and seventy feet 
of a slaty lead-coloured rock, distorted and irregular in its 
outline. On the right or south shore above the falls 
the bank is low, but below it, eighty to ninety feet high. 
In some seasons, the bed of the Mohawk below the 
Cahoes Fall can be examined and walked over close to 
the foot of the cataract, though rough and full of holes 
and projections of the sharp angles and points of the 
slaty rock ; at other times the whole face of the jagged' 
rock, and of the bed below, is one tremendous torrent 
nine hundred feet wide, white with foam, presenting a 
spectacle of great sublimity. 

A canal near two miles long, that leads out any de- 
sirable portion of the waters of the Mohawk, a half a 
mile above the falls, to the various mills below, has a 
head and fall of one hundred and twenty feet, its chan- 
nel in the first part being through slate rock, between 
the river and the Erie Canal, and then by a tunnel un- 
der the state canal to the west side, whence it is distri- 
buted as wanted, yielding six or seven successive falls 
of eighteen or twenty feet. The capital of the compa- 
ny, as incorporated, is half a million of dollars. 

In half a mile onward, above the Cahoes, we meet 
four locks, with a rise of eight feet each, and a series 



Wat Hoix Rapids. 105 

of milJs adjacent, and in two and a half miles onward 
we reach the Lower Aqueduct over the Mohawk River, 
of eleven hundred and twenty-eight feet in length, rest- 
ing on twenty-six piers and abutments of stone, the 
trunk that contains the water being of wood. This 
transfers the canal to the north side of the Mohawk 
River, in the town of Half Moon, Saratoga county, 
along the base of the Wat Hoix ridge, for over two 
miles, to the famous gap of that name, that for forty 
rods runs through high walls of gray wacke slate. 

Until this passage was discovered and determined 
upon, when the engineers were exploring the valley of 
the Mohawk for the best line to adopt, they were al- 
most at a nonplus, when they beheld the difficulties and 
asperities of this vicinity on the south shore of the 
river, that is very forbidding in its aspect, being rock- 
bound and precipitous, and it was then that they de- 
termined to overcome and avoid all difficulties by carry- 
ing the canal twice across the river. The ravine was 
eighty feet wide at the east and fifteen at the west, ex- 
panding in the middle as if to form a natural basin, with 
walls of solid rock. Beyond this for 80 rods, the Wat 
Hoix rapids in the Mohawk have a descent of ten feet, 
ruffling the surface of the water, and called by the In- 
dians the White Horse, or the Evil Spirit. On the 
north the canal is bounded by a precipice of one hun- 
dred and forty-six feet, that in many places overhangs 
the canal, and is quite appalling to the sight. On the 
south is the river washing the bank of the canal, that 
is formed in a solid and masterly style. 

Thence it is two miles to Fort's ferry on the old road 
from Albany to BaJlston Spa, and one mile to the next 
lock of seven feet rise, and one mile to Vischer's 
ferry. One and a half miles brings us to a deep rock 
excavation, of thirty-two feet in the solid rock as before. 
The canal, for a considerable distance in the vicinity of 
Wat Hoix, is on the edge of the river, and a protecting 
solid wall of stone, smooth and at a low depressed angle, 
rises from the water's edge as the rapid current sweeps 
towards the falls. 



106 Union College — Schenectady. 

The next two miles contain two locks, of nine feet 
rise each, and a guard lock and feeder of half a mile 
from the Mohawk, and a high bank of one hundred and 
thirty feet, — and in two miles farther we arrive at the 
Upper Aqueduct over the Mohawk, where the canal 
again recrosses to the south bank, seven hundred and 
forty-eight feet in extent, on sixteen piers of limestone, 
twenty-live feet above the river, the trunk pf the canal 
of wood, as on the other. The coup d'oeil" here is very 
fine. Here are also three locks, of seven feet lift each, 
and in a short distance the old Alexander bridge, and 
mills, on the old Albany and Ballston road. The rock 
of gray wack slate is in the county of Schenectady. — 
Three miles farther we pass in front of Union College, 
and soon are in Schenectady. The view over the vale 
on entering is pleasing in the highest degree. The two 
edifices of the college are each two hundred feet long, 
and four stories in height, and six more are requisite to 
complete the plan. $300,000 have been bestowed by 
the State, or rather permitted to be raised by lottery, 
for the benefit of this literary institution, but causing 
the most injury to society of any method that could be 
adopted to raise funds. There is a president, (Dr. Nott) 
seven professors, a teacher of French and Spanish, and 
two hundred and eighty-five students. Annual expense, 
board in the hall, $98, fuel and light $8, washing $6. 
There are three terms in the year, and the expenses of 
each are payable in advance. The first settlement of 
this town was in 1620, by a colony of Dutch, to engage 
in the fur trade, in despite of the one at Albany ; and 
this continued peaceably until 1661, when Arent Van 
Corlaer, and others, received a grant from the govern- 
ment on extinguishing the Indian title, and in 1664 
surveys were made, and an inroad was effected by the 
Canadian French, but they lost their way and were 
near perishing from fatigue and famine ; but Van Cor- 
laer generously enabled them to return in peace, un- 
molested. In return for this generous and kind treat- 
ment, twenty-six years subsequently, namely, in 1690, 
the town, then composed of sixty-three houses and a 



Erie Canal. 107 

church, was burned by a party of French and Indians, 
in the night of 8th February, killing- and capturing most 
of the inhabitants ; and this was repeated in 1748, and 
seventy citizens slain. A fire in 1819, on the 17th No- 
vember, destroyed one hundred and seventy buildings, 
but within a few years past the city has been prosper- 
ous, from the railroad and canal that pass through it. 

The city is on twenty streets, has nine places of pub- 
lic worship, two academies, a Lancaster and several 
select and district schools, six newspapers, two banks, 
capital $385,000, an insurance company of $ 100,000, 
twelve hundred houses, and about six thousand inhabi- 
tants, — an iron and a brass foundry, carpet, satin, and 
tobacco factory, a paper mill, &c. A covered bridge 
extends over the river one thousand feet. The railroad 
bridge also runs north over the flats and causeway for 
three-fourths of a mile ; thence the road to Ballston 
turns north-east four miles, thence northerly along the 
lake, entering the village, and crossing the Kyaderos- 
sera by a good bridge, and thence to Saratoga — whole 
distance from Schenectady twenty-one and a half miles, 
nearly level, the greatest variation being only sixteen 
feet to a mile, the rails of wood, with iron plates, and 
the cost only $300,000 with cars, engines, &c. The canal 
passenger-boats leave from this place at half past 7 in the 
morning and half past 6 in the evening, and are eighteen 
to twenty hours to Utica. Price for the eighty miles, four 
cents per mile including meals. The next four miles 
across the luxuriant flats of the Mohawk, takes us skirt- 
ing along the base of the southern ridge to Rotterdam, 
passing two locks, of eight feet lift each. There are 
nine islands in the river, from two to one hundred and 
twenty acres, that the Binnekitt cuts off from the main. 
The village has two Dutch churches, one cotton factory 
of two thousand spindles, fifty looms that make four 
hundred thousand yards of goods and thirty thousand 
pounds of yarn annually, one carpet factory, two card- 
ing and cloth-dressing mills, four grist mills of three 
runs, and one iron casting furnace, and twenty-five 



108 Flint Hill — Schoharie Creek. 

dwellings. In a mile and three-quarters we come to 
the aqueduct over the Plattekill, that has a waterfall of 
about eighty feet in ten rods, with a perpendicular 
pitch of fifty feet, a vein of lead ore in a gangue of 
slate three-quarters of a mile above the Falls that 
are a mile from the river. Thence in three and 
a quarter miles is another lock of eight feet, and in 
two and a quarter miles we are at the limit of the county 
of Schenectady, and enter upon Montgomery, and in 
one mile pass Flint Hill, a branch of the Catskill that 
is here pierced by the Mohawk, and on the north con- 
nects with the range that extend toward the sources of 
the Hudson River ; the rock here is sandstone. 

Three and a half miles are two locks, of eight feet 
rise each, and an aqueduct, and in three miles we arrive 
at the bridge over the Mohawk to Amsterdam, (see in- 
dex, and page 55.) The population here is of a mixed 
character, being descendants from Dutch, Germans, 
Irish, Scotch, &c. MinaviUe, or Yankee- Street, four 
miles south of the canal on the Chuctanunda Creek, has 
a church of Presbyterians, a tavern, two stores, and forty 
dwellings. Port Jackson has three stores, two taverns, 
and twenty dwellings. 

An aqueduct passes over the Chuctanunda Creek, 
that rises tweJve miles south in the high region around 
Duanesburg and drives twenty mills. Its name is pure- 
ly Indian, and means stony bottom. Another creek of 
the same name enters into the Mohawk on the opposite 
side of the river. 

In four miles we pass two locks, one of eight and the 
other of four feet lift, and on the site of the eastern 
guard lock formerly stood Queen Anne's chapel and 
the old Mohawk castle. The Indians granted a tract 
of land for the use of the Episcopal missionary at this 
church, and with their beloved teacher fled to Canada 
during the revolutionary war, where he became a bishop, 
and the Indians sent back for their church bell. 

Schoharie Creek, fifty miles from Albany, — though 
called a creek it is ten rods wide, and at times would 



Ball's Cave — Erie Canal. 109 

pass for a respectable stream, being subject to great and 
sudden freshets from the Catskill mountain region, 
where it has its origin seventy miles south, — is rapid 
in its course, and is bordered by lofty hills and preci- 
pices, famous for its drift or jloodivood, and that is 
the indication of the Indian name. It is the largest 
tributary of the Mohawk ; there are rich flats on its 
borders, one to two miles wide in Middleburgh, and 
Schoharie, the county seat, a small village, a court-house 
of stone, three stories high, county clerk's office, a Lu- 
theran and a Dutch church, two academies, one hundred 
and twenty dwellings, five stores, three taverns, five 
mills. The old stone church served as a fortress when 
Brandt, Butler, and Johnson attacked in the war of 
the revolution ; and four miies northeast is Ball's Cave, 
two hundred feet in depth, with numerous apartments, 
a lake thirty feet deep and half a mile long, an amphi- 
theatre one hundred feet in diameter and one hundred 
high, the floor descending on all sides to the centre, the 
roof horizontal, its walls rich in stalactitic decoration. 
The entrance to this cavern is by a perpendicular de- 
scent of seventy-five feet, and is effected by ropes. 

Fort Hunter, east side of the creek. The passage of 
the canal boats over the surface of the river just above 
the dam of twenty feet, is effected by means of a rope, 
or cable, worked by horses and wound round a drum, or 
cylinder, on the shore. If the rope should give way, 
the boat and passengers must go over the dam — but 
this seldom happens. The boat then enters a lock of 
six feet rise, on the west side of the Schoharie, and in 
two miles arrives at the canal house, of singular form, 
in Smithtovvn, or Glen, and to Isherkill aqueduct, and 
Arieskill dam and guard locks, and in two and a half 
miles to another lock of seven feet rise, nearly oppo- 
site Caughnawaga and Johnstown. (See index, and 
page 56.) 

In six miles we cross the little aqueduct and basin 
opposite the Little Nose, and in one mile to Anthony's 
Nose, in the township of Root, and here we first encoun- 
10 



110 Erie Canal 

ter the primitive or gneiss rock in this valley. In the 
cliffs near the river is a cave, that is said to penetrate 
several hundred feet into the bowels of the mountain, 
with the walls encrusted in the usual manner. 

Spraker's basin, dam, and guard lock, is two and a 
quarter miles beyond the nose, and in two and three- 
quarter miles is another lock of six feet rise, when we 
are at Canajoharie on the creek of that name, with a 
guard lock and a bridge across the Mohawk to Pala- 
tine. (See index, and page 56.) 

The Canajoharie, or Bowman's Creek, rises in the ridge 
of land that separates the valley of the Mohawk from 
the extreme head waters of the Susquehannah River, 
and in the valley south of this ridge, that may perhaps 
be a thousand feet above the river, is cradled the town 
of Cherry Valley and the beautiful Otsego Lake, that, 
at its outlet at Cooperstown, empties its pellucid wa- 
ters into the charming valley of the Susquehannah, that 
meanders for several hundred miles in a southerly di- 
rection to reach the Chesapeake, and yet is only sepa- 
rated from the Mohawk by a roof, or slope, of moun- 
tainous land about ten miles broad. The fall of the 
Canajoharie Creek in its course of twenty miles is eight 
hundred feet or more. Its valley is overlooked with the 
greatest delight from the ridge just mentioned, east of 
Cherry Valley, and presents one of the most extensive 
and splendid landscapes in the State. 

The railroad from this to Catskill, seventy miles in a 
southeast direction, will pursue the base of the north- 
east face of the ridge. This village is a place of some 
trade, and has a factory for making cotton and woollen 
goods, a Dutch church, an academy, a library, two 
newspapers, four taverns, three distilleries, two flour and 
two saw-mills, seven stores, one hundred dwellings. 

Canajoharie Centre, on the head of Bowman's 
Creek, has a Presbyterian church and a few dwellings, 
and here is the Central Asylum for the deaf and 
dumb. 

In following our course for three and a half miles 



Valley of the Mohawk. Ill 

opposite to Stone Arabia (four miles in the interior, on 
the north bank) we meet with a lock of seven feet 
rise, and the guard lock on the Otsquaga Creek, in the 
town of Minden, and Fort Plain village. The Otsquaga 
Creek gushes from three springs, and has at its source 
power to drive three milis, is highly charged with cal- 
careous matter, and has formed in its dell, tuffa and 
petrifactions, and after a rapid descent to the northeast, 
through Minden, falls into the Mohawk at Fort Plain. 

Minden township has a front of eight miles along the 
river, a surface most agreeably undulated with ridges 
and hills of a moderate height, and pleasant and fertile 
valleys, and fine alluvial tracts along the Mohawk and 
Otsquaga. It was early settled by Germans, and 
abounds in local names, viz : Dutch Town or the Dorf 
in the north, Fort Plain in the northeast, Gilsenberg in 
the centre, and Ford's Bath in the west, and the Bush 
in the south ; there are two Dutch churches, and seven 
saw mills, and a fulling mill. 

In three miles onward, a feeder comes in from the 
river above the darn, and a lock of eight feet rise, and 
the dam and guard lock opposite to St. Johnsville in 
Oppenheim, and in two miles farther at Crous' is a lock 
of eight feet, and one and a half miles more we are op- 
posite the mouth of East Canada Creek, and the Gulf 
Bridge, on the railroad, of one arch of one hundred and 
sixty feet span, elevated sixty feet above the water, and 
in two miles we enter another lock of eight feet rise, in 
the township of Danube. 

A Mohawk castle and a church for the Indians, un- 
der the patronage of the English, formerly stood at the 
mouth of the Noioadaga Creek, that, with its dam, and 
guard locks, and towpath of four hundred feet, is passed 
in a mile, and in two more the grave of General Her- 
kimer, his brick house being seen on elevated ground : 
he was slain in the Oriskany battle. 

We are now drawing near to the most interesting 
portion of the Mohawk valley, the passage of the river 
through the rocky gulf or barrier. The defile is two 



112 Little Falls. 

miles long with an average breadth of six hundred 
yards, bordered by rocky and wood-clad hills of four 
hundred feet in height ; the rocks are granite, gneiss, 
and hornblend, with calciferous sand rock overlaid by 
transition limestone. 

The Little Falls of the Mohawk are so termed in 
contrast to the greater descent of the river at the Ca- 
hoes below, and this is one of those distinguished geo- 
graphical positions that is presented in a far less pic- 
turesque form at the Wind Gap and Water Gap on the 
Delaware ; at various places on the Susquehannah ; at 
the union of the Shenandoah and Potomac in Virginia ; 
and the passage of the Hudson through the highlands 
of New- York ; though the volume of water in the 
places referred to may be vastly superior, and the natu- 
ral outlines on a more magnificent scale ; yet the com- 
bination of natural objects, with those of artificial crea- 
tion by the labour and ingenuity of man, that are here 
brought into direct association and contrast, infinitely 
surpasses that of any other position in the United States. 
Here are brought into juxtaposition, side by side, the 
Erie Canal with its nest of locks, and the much admired 
aqueduct and road bridge immediately over the main 
chute of the Mohawk ; the line of road also adjoining 
the canal on that side ; then the river and the remains 
of the old flumes and locks of the original canal com- 
pany ; then the new line of railroad, and the expensive 
rock excavations and embankments, and the old turn- 
pike road on the north side, hemmed in by perpendicu- 
lar rocks that are almost grazed by the cars, — these 
arrest the attention of the admiring and wondering tra- 
veller, and if examination is made into the geological 
signs and marks that nature has implanted in indelible 
characters, so that he that flies may see, and he that 
" runs may read," the student of natural science, and 
others that have even slightly attended to such sub- 
jects, must be impressed with the remarkable and strik- 
ing features of the entire panorama. 

The descent of the river in three-quarters of a mile 



Erie Canal 113 

is forty-two feet, the marble aqueduct is two hundred 
and fourteen feet long and sixteen wide, with walls 
fourteen feet high and four broad, upheld by one 
arch of seventy and two others of fifty feet span each, 
together with the abutments ; a balustrade on the para- 
pet renders it secure for passengers that may devote a 
short time to its examination. The adjacent village has 
a factory for making cotton and woollen goods, two 
paper mills, two tanneries, two machine shops, one trip- 
hammer, one carding and dressing mill, four churches, 
two academies, a bank, capital of $200,000, eleven 
lawyers, five physicians, two printing offices and papers, 
three hundred and fifty stone dwellings, that receive a 
supply of water in pipes from an elevated spring three 
hundred feet higher than the settlement. The land, or 
rock, formerly was held for many years by a Mr. Ellis, 
an Englishman, disinclined to improve or sell until re- 
cently. It has been purchased by a gentleman of New- 
York, R. Ward. It is seventy-nine miles from Albany, 
twenty from Utica. 

There are five locks within a mile, of eight feet lift 
each, and in the river and on the bank of the canal are 
huge rocky masses and pillars of grotesque water- worn 
forms, and for a long distance near here the canal is 
supported by a wall of masonry that encroaches boldly 
on the bed of the river, and the deck of the canal boat 
affords an excellent view, in passing through the locks 
of this famous mountain gorge, that at first was beheld 
by the canal contractors with dismay, from the difficul- 
ties that were anticipated at this spot in forming a 
trench or line in such a knotty, contracted glen, and 
two or three years were allowed by the canal commis- 
sioners, and supposed to be necessary for the excavation 
and construction ; but it was effected in three months 
by some unexpected facilities, or some new wholesale 
method of blasting, by which masses of eighty to one 
hundred tons were thrown out at a time by a profuse 
quantity of gunpowder — the explosions rent asunder 

10* 



114 Erie Canal — Mohawk Village — Herkimer. 

the face of the mountain, and shook the country for miles 
around like an earthquake. 

After passing through the second of the locks, we 
leave the ravine, and also the gneiss rock, and the last 
seen for some time as we go west, then pass in two and 
a half miles three locks, of eight feet lift each, and in 
'four and a half miles, two more locks at the German 
Flats, one of eight and one of nine feet rise, near a stone 
church used as a fortress, and Fort Herkimer, and in 
one mile we arrive opposite the mouth of West Canada 
Creek, on the north side of the Mohawk, that comes 
down the Trenton Falls, (see page 64.) The flats 
are celebrated for their fertility, but are not superior to 
many regions farther west, and have lost their exclu- 
sive character, since the western States of the Union 
have become more familiarly 'known. 

A canal has been cut around the Wolf rift in the 
Mohawk, one and a half miles in length, giving water 
power. Mohawk, a village of thirty dwellings, and a 
few stores, is one mile south, and a post-office called 
Paine's Hollow. A bridge here leads over to Herkimer, 
three-quarters of a mile north, that has a neat 
Dutch and Methodist church, a brick court-house, a 
stone jail, and county clerk's office, one hundred and 
twenty dwellings, five taverns and stores, and a hy- 
draulic company, that have, at the expense of forty 
thousand dollars, cut a canal, and constructed extensive 
works. 

After passing in a short distance through an exten- 
sive dug way in a high hill of clay and sand, is another 
bridge, a lock of eight feet rise, and another of the same 
at Fulmer's Creek aqueduct, and in one and a half miles 
we pass Steel's Creek aqueduct and feeder, and in one 
and a quarter miles, two locks, of eight feet rise each, 
and in three-quarters of a mile, the aqueduct over My- 
er's Creek, and are at Frankfort, a village of fifty dwel- 
lings, two churches, a Presbyterian and Baptist, two 
taverns, seven stores, a furnace that makes iron ware to 
the value of thirty thousand dollars a year, and a fac- 



Utica — Schenectady. 115 

tory for cotton and woollen goods and machinery. The 
railroad is here on the south side of the Mohawk to 
Utica. 

The long level of sixty-nine and a half miles without 
a lock, here commences, and extends westward through 
Utica, Whitestown, Rome, Verona, Lenox, Sullivan, 
Manlius, to Lodi, near Syracuse. This portion of the 
canal was the easiest, and the first made. It is the 
longest canal level known, and is a remarkable feature in 
the aspect of the country, as it follows a prolonged ex- 
tent of table land from the upper waters of the Mohawk, 
along the south of the Oneida Lake, towards the Onon- 
daga River and Lake Ontario. 

In six miles we pass Ferguson's Creek aqueduct, and 
in one mile Clark's Creek aqueduct on four arches, and 
in two miles we are at Utica. This city has a popula- 
tion of twelve thousand, sixteen places of public wor- 
ship of all the sects, four academies or high schools, 
forty-three schools, a Lyceum, and Medical Society, and 
Mechanical Association, with lectures, models, &c., a 
library, and another for apprentices, and also the Young 
Men's Association, reading and news-room, and library, 
with debates, and lectures on literary and scientific 
subjects. Their room, &c. open to all strangers. A 
museum, three banks, capital one million five hundred 
thousand dollars, an insurance company, capital two 
hundred thousand dollars, three political and three reli- 
gious newspapers, a theatre, twenty-one inns, including 
several spacious hotels. 

The line of railroad is now complete from Albany to 
Auburn. Passengers can now leave New- York at five 
o'clock, be in Utica at three o'clock the next afternoon, 
at Syracuse at six, at Auburn at eight, and at Roches- 
ter at five o'clock itie next morning, and then to Buf- 
falo via Batavia in twelve hours — arriving there at 
five o'clock — forty- eight hours from New- York. 

The railroad hence to Schenectady is described at p. 
52 to 62. This is a famous point for the divergence of 
roads, stages, and canals, to all parts of the State. 



116 Schenectady — Oneida County. 

Hundreds of canal boats, laden with the productions of 
the interior, are constantly passing to the east, and 
others with foreign merchandise to the west. This is 
a net that catches both ways, and passengers here usu- 
ally leave the canal, from its tediousness or monotony, 
and adopt some new mode of conveyance. 

This city has a mayor, twelve aldermen, four justices, 
and four wards ; is distant from New- York two hun- 
dred and thirty-seven miles. Albany ninety- three, Ro- 
chester one hundred and forty, Buffalo two hundred and 
two, Ithaca ninety-six, Oswego on Lake Ontario seven- 
ty-six, Sackett's Harbour ninety-four, Ogdensburg one 
hundred and forty-five. 

The city is on the south side of the Mohawk, and 
occupies a slope that faces to the northwest, rising in 
the rear of the city to an eminence of considerable in- 
terest, and overlooking the valley of the Mohawk for 
miles towards Whitestown, Rome, the Oneida Lake, &c. 
with the heights that lead to Trenton Falls fronting the 
spectator on the north and east. 

Much of the exciting interest involved in the history 
of the wars of 1756, and 1776, to '83, as to the border 
and partizan warfare of those days, is derived from this 
vicinity, as in the siege of Fort Schuyler, that was sit- 
uated near the depot and bridge at the foot of the main 
street. 

Oneida County, that we are now in, contains nineteen 
large cotton factories, capital about eight hundred 
thousand dollars, and having thirty-three thousand two 
hundred and thirty-four spindles, and making five mil- 
lion six hundred and ninety-seven thousand five hun- 
dred yards in a year, and use one million eight hundred 
and sixty-three pounds of cotton. Terms of the Su- 
preme and of the United States Circuit Court are held 
here. 

The Chateaugua hills in the northeast, in Remsen, 
between Trenton Falls and the Black River, are eight 
hundred and forty feet high, and south of that, the 
Hassencleaver Mountain in Deerfield and Marcy rises 



Oneida Lake. 117 

from eight hundred to one thousand two hundred feet 
from a base of eight or nine miles broad, and a chain 
twenty miles long ; and in the south, the ridge that di- 
vides the waters of the Susquehannah from those of the 
Mohawk is one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine 
feet above tide, and the summit level of the Chenango 
Canal, at the head of the river, is seven hundred and 
six ieet above the Erie Canal. 

The central part of the county that we pass through 
as we leave Utica, is remarkably depressed below the 
country to the south and northeast. The vale v in its 
western portion, including the head of the Oneida Lake, 
is from ten to twelve miles broad, but along the Mo- 
hawk, only two to six miles. The great cedar swamp 
south of Rome is three miles broad, and from the head 
of the Oneida Lake to the Rome summit east, thirteen 
miles ; the rise is sixty feet, and on the north and 
south sides of the lake it is equally gradual in a few 
miles. 

The Oneida Lake is twenty-one miles long, east to 
west, and three to five wide, three hundred and seventy- 
six feet above tide, and one hundred and forty-live above 
Lake Ontario, and its area is seventy or eighty square 
miles. It abounds with salmon, bass, pike, cat-fish, 
duce, suckers, perch, eels, &c. Fort Royal block-house 
stood at the entrance of Wood Creek, and Fort Brew- 
erton at the west end of the lake. 

The outlet, or the Oneida River, twenty rods wide at 
I the old French Fort, winds sixteen miles to attain eight 
i of westing, and forms, at its junction with the Seneca, 
i the Oswego River. 

The Oneida Lake Canal extends from the Erie Canal 
I in Verona to Wood Creek, three and three-quarter miles, 
I cost seventy thousand dollars ; has one guard and seven 
1 lift locks, falls fifty-seven and a half feet, locks ninety- 
; six by fifteen and a half. To return the water that is 
j drawn from the Erie Canal, an equivalent is provided 
* by a feeder from the Oneida Creek at the castle, three 
and a quarter miles long, with a lock of four feet lift, 



118 Oneida Institute. 

and guard gate. The feeder intersects the Erie Canal 
rive miles west of the Oneida Lake Canal. 

Resuming- our western route on leaving Utica, the 
canal winds along the level region above referred to, 
and in three and a quarter miles we arrive at the Saugh- 
daquada or Sauquoit Creek and aqueduct, near the 
village of Whitestown, the nucleus of the first settle- 
ment beyond Albany, in 1788. It is a half-shire or place 
of the courts, in part for this county with Rome. Here 
is a Presbyterian and Baptist Church, Harvey's cotton 
factory, a brick court-house, a prison, one hundred dwell- 
ings, neat and pleasing to the eye, four stores. 

The Oneida (manual labour) Institute requires three 
hours labour per day from each student, as conducive 
to health, on the farm of one hundred and fourteen acres 
on the left or west bank of the Sauquoit Creek, in full 
view. The buildings are of wood, eighty-two by thir- 
ty-two, and forty-eight by forty-eight, both three stories 
high, including in the latter edifice, a chapel, lecture 
room, library, reading-room, dining-hall, and family 
rooms. Another edifice forty by twenty-eight feet, is 
the kitchen and steward's departments. Students of 
fifteen to the upper class, and from ten to fifteen to the 
juvenile. 

The Sauquoit Creek abounds with water power. It 
rises on the high lands in Paris, and runs eighteen miles 
north-west, and is bordered by rich lands. Yorkville 
three and a half miles from Utica, has three large cotton 
factories, one machine shop, three stores, one tavern, a 
Presbyterian and a Methodist church, and one hundred 
dwellings. 

Two and three-quarter miles onward, we arrive at 
Oriskany Creek and village, having an Episcopal and a 
Presbyterian church, two woollen factories, (the Oris- 
kany and the Dexter,) a grist and a saw mill, three tav- 
erns, six stores, and sixty dwellings. 

Eight miles we arrive opposite Rome, another of the 
half-shire towns, seen at a distance to the north, togeth- 
er with the United States Arsenal on the old canal. 



Rome — Verona Centre — Oneida Springs. 119 

Rome occupies the site of Fort Stanwix, that cost in 
1758, two hundred and sixty-six thousand four hundred 
dollars and is on the summit level between the Ocean 
and Lake Ontario, (four hundred and thirty-five feet above 
tide at Albany,) having 1 the Mohawk River on the east, 
and Wood Creek on the west, near the Erie Canal, 
from which a branch extends through the village, two 
miles to the Mohawk, being part of the work of the old 
Western Navigation Company, of 1796. Rome has two 
Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Methodist, and one 
Baptist church, an academy, and several select schools, 
a brick court house, a prison, the United States Arse- 
nal of stone, and wooden barracks going to decay, a 
cotton and woollen factory, a bank, capital one hundred 
thousand dollars, flouring and saw mills, and three hun- 
dred and fifty dwellings, and five thousand inhabitants, 
and is a thriving, prosperous village. Haivley's Basin, 
three miles west from Rome, on the Erie Canal, has six 
houses. 

Verona Centre, on the Erie Canal, is nine miles from 
Rome, and two south of Wood Creek, has a warehouse, 
store, tavern, and six dwellings. New London, also on 
the canal, seven miles from Rome, has two taverns, four 
stores, and forty dwellings, and is the depot for lumber 
from Salmon River and Fish Creeks. Andover has a 
store, tavern, and twelve dwellings. 

The Oneida Sulphur Springs, half a mile south-west 
from the village, with its spacious hotel, is a fashionable 
resort in summer. The glass factory in Verona has 
made twenty thousand dollars' worth annually. Three 
miles beyond, we cross the Oneida Creek and valley, by 
an aqueduct of one hundred and twenty feet, and em- 
bankments ; together four hundred feet long, and from 
twenty to twenty-six feet high. The creek enters the 
Oneida Lake at the south-east corner, and is the dividing* 
line between this and Madison county, that we now en- 
ter upon. Three miles from the Oneida Creek, we pass 
Lenox furnace, basin, and landing, and in two miles 
further, are at Canastota Village, creek and basin, thir- 



120 Manlkis Landing — Syracuse Academy. 

ty-six miles from Utica, and fourteen miles from Mor- 
risville, the county-seat to the south-east. It has a 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and a Baptist 
church, one hundred and twenty dwelling houses, a 
high school, several forwarding merchants, groceries, 
four stores, four taverns, and is a lively business place. 
A small village is passed in four miles, and in four miles 
farther, we arrive at Chitteningo Creek, aqueduct, basin, 
and feeder, with a side cut of one and a half miles to 
the village of that name, four locks, of six feet rise each. 
The village of Chitteningo has one hundred and fifty 
dwelling houses, three churches, a Dutch, Presbyterian, 
and Methodist, a woollen factory, that uses annually one 
hundred thousand pounds of wool, made into broadcloths 
and cassimeres. There are also flouring, gypsum, wa- 
ter-lime, saw-mills, a furnace, trip-hammer, &c. In 
the hills near the canal in this vicinity, is an abundance 
of limestone, water, or hydraulic cement, lime and gyp- 
sum. Iron ore is said to be in the bogs. (See also p. 69, 
and for Cazenovia and lake.) 

Eight miles more we are in Onondaga County, at 
Mantius Landing. The village of that name, being 
four miles to the south, on Limestone Creek, has one 
hundred and fifty dwellings, a cotton factory, several 
grist and saw mills, and six stores. Fayetteville, on the 
north branch of the Seneca turnpike, and by the feeder 
of the Erie Canal, eight miles from Syracuse, has three 
churches, seventy-five dwellings, six stores, four taverns, 
and two mills. Kirkville is a thriving village on the 
canal. Three miles beyond the last landing, is a side 
cut, to Orville, and from this is five and a quarter miles 
to Lodi, being at the western termination of the long lev- 
el that began at Frankfort, in Herkimer County. 

The Syracuse Academy, a splendid brick edifice four 
stories high, with an observatory, occupies the most 
prominent place on the left foreground as we wind 
around the last hill, and come suddenly in sight of this 
fine city, with the canal here beginning to be enlarged 
on the new plan of eighty feet wide, and eight or ten 



Salt Springs. 121 

deep, new locks, &c. The academy has spacious orna- 
mental grounds, and gardens attached, with terraces in 
front, facing west towards the city, that has an imposing 
appearance as we draw near to its lofty, spacious ware- 
houses, and ranges of brick edifices, and neat suburban 
private dwellings. There are seven hundred houses, 
and four thousand five hundred inhabitants ; and the 
Syracuse House, of brick, four stories, fronting on Wa- 
ter and Salina streets, is one of the best hotels in the 
State, and is thronged with company : the Onondaga 
County bank is in the adjoining building, and also the 
post office. 

The intelligent stranger that arrives at Syracuse, and 
does not inconsiderately neglect to look about him, but 
spends a day or two in an active examination of the lo- 
calities in this city and its vicinity, will derive much 
gratification from seeing the springs of salt water that 
rise in great volumes on the immediate bank of the 
Onondaga (a fresh water) Lake, and in tracing the 
modes and means used in boiling or evaporating this 
strong brine, that in forty-five to fifty-five gallons pro- 
duces a bushel of pure salt, while the sea water on our 
coast takes three hundred and sixty gallons, to make 75 
pounds of salt ! In 1835, the quantity of salt here made 
was 2,222,694 bushels ; duty, cents a bushel, amount, 
118,364 dollars. In 1833, when the duty was twelve 
and a half cents, and only 1,838,646 bushels were made, 
the duty was 227,860 dollars. The principal springs 
are at Salina and Geddes. At Salina the well is twen- 
ty-two feet deep, and ten in diameter, and supplies the 
works at Salina, Liverpool, and Syracuse. 

Salt springs are found for an extent of 180 miles from 
Vernon, Oneida County, to the Niagara River, but only 
those in Onondaga and Cayuga are profitably worked. 
The whites derived their knowledge of the salt springs 
from the Indians, and by lowering an Iron vessel into 
the spring on Mud Creek, then submerged by fresh 
water a few feet, the salt water was obtained, and the 
same process was used to supply the first settlers until 
11 



122 Salt Springs. 

other springs were discovered. There is a difference 
in the supply by its diminishing in drought, but with 
improved machinery for pumping, a more rapid influx 
of brine has been produced, with an increase of strength 
from twenty to twenty-five per cent, standing at thir- 
teen degrees on the hydrometer of Beaume, of which 
the point of saturation is twenty-two degrees. 

Large quantities of this salt are sent to Canada by the 
Oswego Canal, and to the western states. In boring 
for rock salt 250 feet deep here, no fossil salt or salife- 
rous rock was passed, but cemented gravel, and the 
brine increased in strength, as the depth continued. 

The salt mines in Poland are worked at the depth of 
750 feet, and those of Eperies at 990 feet, and here, al- 
so, no doubt, beds of it will eventually be penetrated, 
and ten times the quantity sold, to what is now slowly 
made by boiling and solar evaporation. Three mil- 
lions of bushels of salt can be made here yearly by an 
adequate supply of brine. During 1834, a large reser- 
voir of the brine was constructed between Liverpool 
and Salina, on the high ground, for factories. Geddes 
is at the head of the lake, and on its west bank, two 
miles from Syracuse, and has fifty dwellings, two stores, 
&c. From the heights near, are fine views of the lake 
in front and of cities around the lake and on the canal. 
Liverpool is four and a half miles north of Syracuse, 
has sixty dwellings, stores, taverns, &c, on the borders 
of the lake and Oswego Canal. 

By taking a ride by the railroad five miles up the hill 
to the quarries, where a thousand men are seen at work 
raising stone from the surface, and in hewing, shaping, 
modeling, &c. for the new locks that are to be made on 
the Erie Canal, and in entering the cave or chasm that 
is here found, and in enjoying the extensive prospect 
from the summit, we can promise the explorer and ge- 
ologist a rich treat. The lime-stone is excellent for 
building, and is used for the masonry on the canal, and 
is easily sent to Oswego, Rochester, Buffalo, &c. in 



Onondaga. 123 

blocks of any size, by the canal, cranes being used for 
lifting on and off the boats. 

The railroad hence to Utica, sixty miles, was finished 
in 1838-9, and cost only $900,000 ; the road was rapidly 
formed by Cram's pile-driving machine, and follows 
the invariable level and low grounds. The facility to 
travellers in continuing the railroad west of Utica is 
very great, and from this it goes to Auburn, twenty- 
five miles. 

The valley that contains Syracuse and the Onondaga 
Lake, is within nineteen feet as low as the Cayuga 
Lake, and is a longitudinal valley, extending north and 
south between the Onondaga hills, and has always been 
a remarkable place, and was selected by the sagacity of 
the aborigines, as the richest land and the most central 
abode for the maintenance and diffusion of their power, 
and here for a long time they held their secret council 
fires, and the six confederated Indian bodies, the Mo- 
hawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, Tusca- 
roras, became the terror, not only of the weaker tribes 
of natives, but also of the white man. 

The name of Onondaga is a pure Indian word, and 
means a swamp at the foot of the hill, or a place be- 
tween two hills. Sacandaga is swamp or marsh. These, 
like all their names, are sonorous, descriptive, and 
strictly characteristic, and should be preserved with re- 
ligious care and veneration. The French gave these 
tribes the name of Iroquois. They were never subdued 
until the expedition, during the revolutionary war, un- 
der the command of General Sullivan, when they were 
crushed, and the haughty spirits of the confederates 
thoroughly subdued, and the tribes scattered. A small 
remnant of them still linger in this valley, and are re- 
luctant to quit the abodes of their ancestors, but they 
are fast fading under the influence of intemperance and 
idleness. 

The site of the present city of Syracuse has been 
cleared but a very few years since the Erie Canal was 
laid out, but it has within ten years risen with giant 



124 Syracuse. 

strides from an inconsiderable hamlet to its present im- 
portance, at the expense of its suffering neighbours, 
Salina and the Onondagas ; but this is only temporary, 
as a iew years of prosperity is destined to fill this cen- 
tral saline valley even to overflowing with population 
and wealth. 

Through the centre of this county, farms sell at from 
twenty-five to forty and sixty dollars an acre, under 
good cultivation. Wheat gives twenty, and maize 
thirty bushels the acre, aided by gypsum. Pine and 
hemlock, with deciduous trees, densely covered the 
northern part of the county; in the centre and south, 
beech, maple, and bass wood. The stumps that remain 
attest the depth and exuberance of the soil. For gar- 
dens, nothing can be better than the rich vegetable 
matter that is here found. 

The red saiiferous sand-stone underlays the marsh 
and swamps, plain and lake, and forms a brim around 
the last. The shoal waters and marsh rest on this 
margin, while the deep waters are within it, to the depth 
of sixty or seventy feet. The lake has been lowered 
two feet, the marshes drained, and this place rendered 
much healthier in consequence. 

Salina, one and a half miles north of Syracuse, is on 
a plain near the centre of the marsh, with Onondaga 
Creek near it, and here are seventy-seven of the salt 
manufactories, and the head salt spring that supplies 
the works here, and Liverpool, and Syracuse, the water 
being conveyed in subterranean logs. The brine is 
forced to the top of a reservoir eighty-five feet high, by 
pumps driven by the surplus water of the Oswego Ca- 
nal, at the rate of three hundred gallons per minute for 
distribution. Solar evaporation produces the coarse 
salt, and boiling the fine. Four hundred cords of wood 
per day are here used for this purpose. In the evapo- 
rating process, a low roof that is movable so as to 
shove off, to admit the rays of the sun, or to cover the 
vat during rain, admits of the deposition in a few days 
of the crystals that form, and are removed when matured. 



Onondaga Creek, 125 

There are one hundred and thirty-three salt manu- 
factories, three thousand four hundred and twenty-three 
kettles and pans of the capacity of 339,775 gallons, and 
over a million and a half of superficial feet of vats for 
solar evaporation. 

Onondaga Hollow, and Onondaga West Hill are se- 
parately referred to on the stage route. (See p. 71, and 
index.) 

The county court-house and public buildings, clerk's 
office, &c. are at Syracuse, it being a village incorpora- 
tion, is on both sides of the Erie Canal, with every 
thing well arranged for business, concentration, and 
comfort ; has an Episcopal, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, 
and a Baptist church. The Onondaga Salt Company, 
and the Syracuse Salt Company, each with a capital of 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for making coarse 
salt, fifteen salt blocks or nests of kettles for making 
salt by fire. 

The Onondaga Creek rises in Tully, twenty-eight 
miles south, giving good water power, runs through 
the village, over which the canal is carried in a stone 
aqueduct of four arches, each of thirty feet span. 

Oswego Canal and river, reaching from Syracuse, 
north to Lake Ontario, is a varied and lively scene, 
changing from river to canal in agreeable succession, 
pleasing the eye, from its pure blue green water, and 
the expansions and contractions of the river, and its 
winding course. 

Much of the land along the stream, remains in its 
natural wild state, but near Oswego the hand of im- 
provement is evident as we come suddenly in view of 
the village on both sides of the Oswego River, and the 
bridge over it 7000 feet in length, and many large stores 
and manufacturing establishments. 

A pier or break-water, that cost $93,000, and is 
1,250 feet long, protects the harbour that has a depth 
of 10 to 20 feet. Here is a main railway, the streets 
are 100 feet wide, there are 600 dwellings, 1 Presby- 
terian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 
11* 



126 Bellisle—Nine Mile Creek. 

and 1 Congregational church, an academy, the Oswego 
and Commercial bank, with an aggregate capital of 
150,000 dollars each. The fort being on the opposite, 
and light-house on the mole, to guide to the entrance of 
the harbour. 

The military works were formerly occupied by the 
French and English in succession, by whom they were 
formerly coveted similar to Fort Niagara. Steamboats 
ply to the various ports on the lake between Ogdens- 
burgh, Kingston, Sacketts Harbour, Oswego, Toronto 
in Canada, the mouth of the Genesee near Rochester, 
dueenston, and Lewiston, and offering every facility 
to numerous travellers and strangers to vary their route 
either by railroads, canals, or steamboats. 

A small packet-boat plies to Salina every hour, fare 
twelve and a half cents. Many strangers here prefer 
to leave the Erie Canal and go to Oswego, and thence 
by steamboat on Lake Ontario to Niagara, by way of 
variety. There are two receiving or turning basins in 
Syracuse and Salina, for the accommodation of the salt 
and other boats. 

Soon after quitting Syracuse is a lock of six feet fall, 
and in a mile and a quarter, another of six feet rise, and 
in half a mile we pass through Geddes, as before men- 
tioned, winding along in sight of the small Onondaga 
Lake, six miles in extent and one broad. 

Bellisle, on the canal, is a small hamlet of fifteen 
dwellings, six miles from Syracuse, and Amboy is on 
the Nine Mile Creek, or outlet of the Otisco Lake, 
seven miles from Syracuse, and has twenty dwellings, 
a mill, &c. Camillus, also on the same creek, has fifty 
dwellings, four stores, three taverns, a grist, saw, card- 
ing, and cloth-dressing mill. Near the village is a 
quarry of gypsum, the first treasure of that kind found 
and used in this State by Canvass White, Esq., engi- 
neer on the Erie Canal, the son of Judge White, of 
Whitestown. A feeder one and a half miles long is 
here formed to connect with the Erie Canal. 

At the Olisco, or Nine Mile Creek, six miles from 



Amber — Cross Lake. 127 

Geddes, is an aqueduct and lock of eleven feet rise, 
and six miles beyond is Canton village, fifteen miles 
from Syracuse, and has fifteen dwellings, three stores, 
and two taverns. Canton is the half way village be- 
tween Albany and Buffalo, one hundred and eighty- 
three miles each way, and seventy-five from Utica. — ■ 
The Otisco Lake is four miles long and half a mile 
wide, and sends forth a powerful stream, the Nine Mile 
Creek. 

Amber is near the lake, has a Methodist church and 
twelve dwellings. Otisco Centre has a Presbyterian 
church, fifteen dwellings, two stores. 

At Peru are a few scattered dwellings, a store, &c. 
on the canal, and at Jordan, six miles beyond, is a lock 
of eleven feet fall, and an aqueduct over the Skaneate- 
les Creek of three arches, one hundred feet long. Here 
are one hundred and fifty dwellings, a Methodist and 
Presbyterian church, three grist and three saw mills, 
sash and pail factory, clothing works, distillery, twelve 
grocery and other stores, two drug, and one tannery. 

Cross Lake, is a basin or reservoir, five miles long and 
two wide, through which the Seneca River passes, in 
a low swampy district, whose surface is three hundred 
and seventy feet above tide. It is a mile or two north 
of the canal. 

For Skaneateles village and lake, see stage road, p. 
72. At Elbridge, three miles south, are Indian remains 
on a hill, of three acres in extent, with a ditch and wall 
of earth. Here are sixty dwellings, three mills, three 
taverns, three stores. 

The next six miles introduce us to Weed's Basin or 
Weedsport, seven miles north of Auburn, eighty-seven 
from Utica, and twenty-six from Syracuse ; has one 
hundred and twenty dwellings, three forwarding houses, 
a Presbyterian and. a Methodist church, eight stores, 
three taverns, one furnace, one saw mill. This is a 
sort of port and landing, and embarkation for Auburn, 
and all that part of Cayuga County. Stages are in 
waiting to take passengers. (For Auburn, see stage 



128 Port Byron — Montezuma. 

road p. 73.) Centreport has twenty dwellings and a 
grocery, a short distance beyond the preceding place. 

Port Byron, three miles west of Weedsport, on the 
Erie Canal, has 140 dwellings, 1 Baptist church, 5 stores, 
2 taverns, 2 grist, 4 saw, and an extensive merchant's 
mill, 1 distillery, 1 tannery, 1 carding and cloth-dress- 
ing mill. Here is a lock of 9 feet fall, and an aqueduct 
over the Owasco Creek, of stone, of four arches of twenty 
feet each. Here are dry docks, and large boat-houses, 
for building and repairing ; and in four and a half miles 
we pass through a lock of 9 feet fall, and in one and a 
half miles are at another of 7 feet fail, on the level of 
Seneca River. At Montezuma or Lakeport, there are 
40 dwellings, several groceries, a collector's office for 
canal tolls, 3 taverns, 1 store. About one mile west of 
the village are the Cayuga or Montezuma marshes. 
The canal-boats for passengers time their arrival and 
departure to meet the lake steamboat to and from Itha- 
ca at the head of the lake thirty-six miles south. The 
width of the lake is 4 miles, and its area 80 square 
miles. A ferry-boat plies across at Genoa, King's ferry. 
The shores of this lake are beautifully disposed to please 
the eye in going on its surface, or travelling on its bor- 
ders. (See p. 74.) 

The salt works at Montezuma, before alluded to, are 
near by, but are not very productive or profitable. It is 
seven miles from this, south, to the Cayuga bridge. The 
railroad from Auburn to Rochester is completed. 

From Montezuma we cross the Cayuga outlet by a 
tow-path bridge, and over the marshes, and then strike 
in by the valley of Clyde River, in a north-west direc- 
tion for five miles, when we are in Wayne County, in 
the township of Galen, and at a lock of 9 feet rise. 
We continue on for five miles in the same direction till 
we arrive at Clyde Village, and a lock of five feet rise. 
Here are one hundred neat-looking dwellings, a Pres- 
byterian, a Methodist, and a Baptist church, many stores 
and forwarding houses, a cylinder window-glass factory, 



Lyons — AUoway. 129 

2 grist, 2 saw, and 1 cloth-dressing mill, a tannery, and 
a school, and 3 taverns. This is eight miles east of 
Lyons. Lock Berlin, on the canal, has a lock of 7 feet 
rise, 10 dwellings, store, tavern, and smithy, and a 
Quaker meeting. Thence four and a half miles brings 
us to Lyons, the capital of Wayne County, and to a lock 
of 6 feet rise, and to a change from the north bank of 
the Clyde, by a considerable detour round the base of 
a hill, passing the outlet of the Canandaigua Lake, that 
here comes in from the south, and uniting with Mud 
Creek, forms the Clyde River for 43 miles to the union 
with the Cayuga outlet, at the marshes. At the con- 
fluence of Mud Creek and the Canandaigua outlet, and 
on the north bank, Lyons is situated, and has two hun- 
dred and fifty dwellings ; many of them and of the stores 
are of brick, spacious, and are fast increasing. It is 
situated on a plain bounded north' and east by limestone 
ridges of gradual ascent, that gives a fine panoramic 
view of the village, the vale to the south-east, and of 
the confluent streams. Here is a Presbyterian, a Ger- 
man Lutheran, and a Methodist church, a brick court- 
house and jail on a public square, a bank, capital #200,- 
000, 20 stores, 5 taverns, 2 printing offices, a furnace, 
1 flouring, 1 grist, 1 saw mill, 1 carding and cloth dress- 
ing mill. 
The canal of half a mile from the Canandaigua outlet 
i on the south side of the river, gives a fall of 9 feet and 
| a large volume of water ; the greater portion is yet 
, unemployed. A bridge is made to cross at this point. 
AUoway, three miles south of Lyons, on the Canan- 
I daigua outlet ; has 2 flouring, 2 saw, 2 carding and cloth 
i dressing mills, two distilleries, 1 store, 2 taverns, 1 
| Baptist church, 30 dwellings. It has a good water 
l power. 

The Erie Canal now crosses by an aqueduct and a 
lock of 10 feet rise, over to the south bank of Mud 
Creek, and in 4 and a half miles are 4 locks, of 8 feet 
rise each, and is one-fourth of a mile from Miller's 
Ba sin. 



130 Fullam's Basin — Great Embankment. 

Eleven miles more bring us again alongside of the Mud 
Creek, at Palmyra, a town or village, of 250 dwellings, 
3 large canal basins, a Presbyterian, Episcopal, Metho- 
dist and Baptist church, an academy, a brewery, 2 tan- 
neries, 12 general stores, several groceries and drug- 
gists, a grist and saw mill, a printing office — 13 miles 
from Canandaigua, 29 from Rochester by canal, 22 by 
road. 

In one and a quarter miles from Palmyra the canal 
again crosses, by an aqueduct, to the north side of Mud 
Creek, 2nd in two and a half miles a lock of ten feet 
lift, and three quarters of a mile, a second also of ten 
feet lift, in Macedon. Nine miles more bring us to 
Fullam's Basin, in Perrinton, Monroe county, through 
a "marshy tract. At Fullam's, at the extremity of the 
ridge, is a warehouse and tavern. It is sixteen miles 
from this to Rochester by canal, and only eleven by 
land, and stages are in waiting for those wishing to cut 
across ; but no traveller should omit seeing once at 
least the great embankment over Irondequoit Creek, that 
in four miles is now passed nolens volens in two miles 
beyond Hartwell's Basin. 

This stupendous embankment of earth is seventy-two 
feet above the creek, and is two miles long, thus carry- 
ing the wondering and astonished passenger in mid air, 
far above the meadows below, that may be viewed as a 
map. The construction of this work was one of great 
expense to the State, and the cause of much anxiety to 
the engineers, as to the results. 

A lock of eight feet rise is passed, and then in two 
miles we arrive at Pittsford, a town of one hundred 
dwellings, six miles southeast from Rochester; has a 
Presbyterian, a Baptist, and a Methodist church, a saw 
mill on the canal lock, four stores, three warehouses, 
one tannery. Oak openings begin to appear in this and 
in Perrinton, as a new feature. 

Blossomville has a post-office, a plaster mill, a Pres- 
byterian church, a store and tavern, and fifteen houses. 

In six and a half miles we meet, at a chain of five 



Rochester. 131 

locks in Brighton, a rise of thirty-seven feet and a half, 
and are at the beginning of the second, or Genesee Long 
Level, of sixty-five miles, that extends westward to 
Lockport in Niagara county. In three miles we cross 
the feeder of two miles long, that comes from the rapids, 
and are in the city of 



Rochie§ter, 

the capital of Monroe county. It is a port of entry for 
the Lake Ontario, -Genesee district, in north latitude 
43° — has 2,500 dwellings, many of three and four sto- 
ries high, of brick, and a population of about 17,000, 
embracing all the mechanic arts and professions. The 
residences of many of the inhabitants indicate wealth, 
taste, and comfort, having court-yards, shrubberies and 
gardens attached. 

The settlement dates from 1812; the incorporation 
from 1834. There are five wards, a court-house and 
jail of stone, six large hotels, fourteen churches, (two 
of correct and attractive architecture,) of all sects, an 
arcade of six stories, containing the post-office, athe- 
neum, a hotel, and various other offices. There is a 
savings bank, and three banks with an aggregate capi- 
tal of $950,000, seven newspapers, (two daily,) three 
bookstores and binderies, and a host of merchants, tra- 
ders, forwarding and commission houses, grocers, and 
mechanics of all kinds. The streets are wide, and 
paved, and drained. Three bridges connect the east 
and west parts of the city, besides the great aqueduct, 
eight hundred feet long, on eleven arches. 

The manufacture of flour is here the business of pri- 
mary importance, from the well known and unequalled 
facilities yielded by the falls in the Genesee River, two 
hundred and seventy-one feet, from this to the lake, that, 
at the English valuation of water power, would be 
$9,718,272. This power is but partially employed at 
present ; there are 24 flouring mills, with about 100 



132 Rochester. 

run of stones, that can make 60 to 100 barrels each 
per day, equal to 5,280 a day, or 1,746,000 per year. 
400,000 have been produced, amount $2,700,000. 

There are eleven large saw mills, nine large machine 
shops, that use water power for turning, stone cutting, 
grinding dye-woods and bark, grain for distilleries, &c, 
making edge tools and carpets ; of these marts of la- 
bour and industry, the Globe is the most extensive and 
curious, a cotton and three woollen factories. The va- 
lue of capital invested in mills and machinery is about 
$750,000, and that required for conducting at $2,000,000, 
and the returns at three millions and a half ; amount of 
merchandise sold annually, over two millions. Exports 
by the lake, near a million. 

The situation on the canal and river, and with the 
various railroads branching like arteries to various di- 
rections, and pulsating with the most active commerce, 
and alive with passengers, and the canals with boats 
and merchandise, impresses one with a vivid belief in 
the general prosperity. 

The Tonnawanta railroad of 32 miles to Batavia, is 
described at p. 79. A short railroad also extends to 
Port Genesee, seven miles, and to Charlotte ; and an- 
other one from Scottsville, a village of 120 houses, four 
churches, five mills, 15 miles south on the river, up the 
valley of Allen's Creek, through Wheatland, 10 miles 
and then to Caledonia, and will be eventually to Le 
Roy, and west to Batavia, for the benefit of the farmers 
and millers on the route, and to connect with the canal 
from Rochester to Olean, on the Alleghany River. This 
canal pursues the valley of the Genesee on the west bank, 
keeping along the edge of the low grounds near the 
base of the hills, to be above inundation, but avoiding 
the too great sinuosities, and crossing the Genesee by an 
aqueduct at Mount Morris to the east side, from whence 
it goes south to Olean, on the Alleghany, (a branch 
leading off to the southeast, up the valley of the Cana- 
soraga Creek to Dansville, and to Bath and Painted 
Post, to unite with the Chemung Canal at Newtown.) 



Genesee Falls — Genesee Valley Canal. 133 

The Genesee is navigable for small boats 53 miles to 
Mount Morris, and a steamboat plies to Avon, 20 miles. 

The lake steamboats come up to Carthage, 2 miles 
north of the Erie Canal, near the falls. Here are 60 
dwellings, and an inclined plane from the landing-place 
to the warehouse 160 feet above, with machinery, the 
steps are 237 ; the railroad from the city ends here. 
The bridge of one arch of 352 feet cord, and versed 
sine 54 feet, summit 196 feet above the water, length 
718, width 30 feet, was put up in 1819, and fell down 
in 1820, with a crash, after a heavy loaded wagon and 
four horses, and a gig had just crossed. It cost $27,000. 

There are two grand falls of the Genesee : the first, 
about a quarter of a mile below the aqueduct, is 96 feet, 
in three distinet sheets ; and below this the river is 
broad and deep, with occasional rapids for a mile and a 
half to the second fall of 20 feet, thence it extends for 
400 feet over a rough bed, and gathers its waters for 
the last and final leap of 105 feet perpendicular ; thence 
are rapids to the head of sloop navigation ; the ravine 
throughout, from the upper to the lower fall, being a 
deep, narrow, rocky gulf, of over a hundred feet deep ; 
the country on both sides being even to the lake shore , 
and in going from east to west, no indication is given of 
an approach to such a deep indentation in the surface 
of the earth until we are close upon its brink, and in 
this particular it conforms to the features of the Niagara 
below the falls to Lewiston and Queenston. 



Genesee Valley Canal, and the Upper Falls of 
the Genesee River, 

Rochester to Olean, on the Alleghany River, 107* 
miles, besides branch to Danville of 18 miles, and two 
feeders of 5 miles. This Herculean construction, re- 
quiring hitherto an expenditure of over four millions, 
and that before its completion may amount to six mil- 
lions of dollars is an inducement to travellers on reach- 
ing Rochester, to diverge from the route to Niagara to 



134 Avon — Avon Mineral Springs, 

behold the rich valley of the Genesee for 50 or 60 miles 
south and the wonderful combinations of nature and art 
that are comprised in the vicinity of Nunda, Portage- 
ville and the upper falls of the Genesee in the county of 
Alleghany. 

♦ The motives that originated this expensive and un- 
profitable project in 1834-6, with those then at the helm 
of State government, were to acquire a new channel of 
trade and transportation with the great States west. 
But there is such a thing as buying gold too dear, and 
not realizing the anticipations of an ardent or too ex- 
cited imagination. 

Avon, on our route, 20 miles to the south of Roches- 
ter, may be reached by either steam or canal boats that 
afford daily facilities to that point, though small boats 
proceed up the river for 36 miles to Mount Morris, at 
the great Dam and lateral branch canal, leading up the 
valley of the Canaseraga Creek southeast for 18 miles 
to Dansville, in Livingston county, near the northwest 
corner of the county of Steuben ; and intended to be 
prolonged down the valley of the Conhocton, or Canis- 
teo, to reach the Chemung Canal at Corning, in the 
southeast corner of Steuben county, and the railroads 
and canals in Pennsylvania. 

Avon Mineral Springs are of high repute,' and of 
fashionable resort, having several hotels or boarding 
houses in the vicinity and others in the village, the 
scenery also being very attractive. As sulphur springs, 
these waters are preeminent, issuing from limestone 
rock, that discharges in a limped gushing stream, over 
50 gallons a minute, at the temperature of 45 degrees 
Fahrenheit. Analysis of one gallon, exhibits carbonic 
acid 5, sulphuretted hydrogen 12 cubic inches ; carbon- 
ate of lime 8 gr., sulphate of lime 84 gr., sulphate of 
magnesia 10 gr., muriate of soda, 18 gr., sulphate of 
soda 16 gr. It is used internally and by baths. 

Genesee is the Indian name for Pleasant Valley, and 
it is eminently so, being of remarkable fertility, depth, 
and richness of alluvial soil. The big tree bend con- 



Genesee Valley Canal. 135 

tains 1200 acres, owned by the Wadsworth family, de- 
scended from the first Connecticut settlers here in 1790. 
They now own a princely domain of several thousand 
acres. 

From Rochester to Mount Morris, the canal rises 70 
feet, and has 8 locks and forms the first division ; hence 
it winds around the southern base of Mount Morris in a 
western direction towards Nunda. The village of 
Mount Morris has 3 churches, (Presbyterian, Episcopal 
and Methodist,) 3 taverns, and about 100 dwellings, and 
the usual variety of stores, and is pleasant in its arrange- 
ment. 

The aspect of the Valley of the Genesee that up to 
this place has to the eye been level, and of exuberant 
richness, now changes as the Canal at the Shaker set- 
tlement, 4 1 miles south of Mount Morris, for one mile 
takes the valley of the Casequa Creek, and in a short 
distance are 17 locks of 12 feet lift, and an excavation 
through the Casequa ridge of 3,146 feet long, 25 to 75 
feet deep, 32 feet wide at bottom, and 348 feet at top, 
producing 600,000 cubic yards of excavation in clay, 
jjravel, and quicksand ! itself a most gigantic work. 
Hence, the canal is conducted along the verge of lofty 
perpendicular cliffs, in a winding direction to Portage- 
ville, five miles from the vast excavation described. 
The river being deeply embosomed amid the limestone 
rock by its sinuous course, worn in its ages of rapid de- 
scent. The surface from Nunda to Portageville being 
clothed thick with Pine trees, is wild, gloomy, and of 
dreary aspect, if the usual public road is followed. 

Portageville occupies a deep vale at an angle formed 
by a sudden bend of the river, the canal passing near, 
and also immediately crossing the river by an aqueduct 
444 feet long, and 50 feet above the stream. Deep rock 
cutting, 56 to 65 feet, is here encountered for some 
distance, and at one spot it is 134 feet, where the treach- 
erous materia] caused infinite expense and trouble. 

The Tunnel through sandstone rock is next passed, 
1180 feet in extent, 27 feet wide, and 27 feet high ; — 



136 Hornby Lodge. 

arched throughout with brick. This tunnel required 
25,000 cubic yards to be blasted at an expense of four 
dollars per cubic yard. 

Directly over this tunnel, 100 feet above, is erected 
in most appropriate rude Gothic style, all in excellent 
keeping with the scenery around and in sight, the fan- 
ciful mansion of the tunnel contractor, the late Mayor 
of Rochester, E. Johnson. A huge oak tree in the cen- 
tre of an octagon room of 60 feet diameter, supports the 
radiating beams of the mansion, that is two stories high 
and named Harnby Lodge. It is on a plain, near the 
chasm, containing the tumultuous river that has a deaf- 
ening roar, as seen to shoot down the two falls of 76 
and 110 feet, producing the finest effect imaginable from 
moving waters, foam and spray, compressed in a rocky 
dell ; perhaps the best view of the falls are obtained on 
the west side, one-fourth of a mile above the centre 
falls, where the side walls are 200 feet high. The 
doors, windows, and ornaments of the Lodge, and some 
of the chairs and other furniture are formed of distorted 
limbs or trees, truly picturesque in appearance ; a curio- 
sity and a study, worthy of imitation — better here than 
a Grecian temple of classic elegance. 

The traveller having satiated his curiosity and view- 
ed the combination of the wonders of the vicinity of 
Portageville, the Falls, and Hornby Lodge, and the 
Tunnel, can wend his way back to Rochester, unless 
disposed to continue on towards Olean, as the ensuing 
20 miles continues the ascent and has a rise of 92 feet 
in 10 locks ; a feeder is here drawn from the river, and 
a new channel formed for the Genesee and a lattice 
bridge erected. 

We now approach the summit level of 11 miles up the 
valley of Black Creek, where are 25 locks and a rise of 
244 feet. From this it descends 80 feet by 9 locks and 
reaches the Alleghany in 314 miles at Olean, whence 
arks and boats can descend the Ohio and Mississippi to 
New-Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, or thread the 



Immense Reservoirs — Aqueduct at Rochester. 137 

mazes of the Red River and the Arkansas, the upper 
Mississippi and Missouri. 

Immense reservoirs, to supply the summit level, are 
formed on Ischua and Oil Creeks. The former is made 
by a dam across the valley 1600 feet long at top, 365 
broad at the base, and 75 feet high ; the basin forming 
an area of 576 acres, a capacity of 588 millions of cubic 
feet. The Oil Creek dam is 1000 feet long, 285 broad 
at base, and 55 feet high. Near the head waters of 
Cattaraugus Creek, 20 miles west, are four small lakes 
that, if required, can be tapped and brought in as 
feeders. 

The canal is 26 feet wide at bottom, 42 at surface, 4 
feet deep. Camposite locks 90 feet long, 15 wide. The 
summit is 982 feet above the Erie Canal, and 11 miles 
long. Lockage on the Dansville branch 83 feet. 

The Aqueduct at Rochester is a splendid structure 
of stone, 850 long, 27 feet high, 9 piers 75 feet long, 
cost $500,000. The canal is thus upheld or carried 
above the impetuous body of the Genesee river to 
the opposite shore on a level above the rushing stream 
that is here of the width of 450 feet. 

The entire descent of the Genesee, in 2| miles near 
the city, is 226 feet, viz. 96, 20, 75, and 35 of rapids. 
Below the last descent, at Carthage, the navigation is 
unimpeded to Lake Ontario 4 miles. 

Above Rochester it is practicable to ascend the river 
for 70 to 90 miles by the tortuous stream according to 
the stage of water ; its utmost wanderings in this state 
perhaps 125 miles. The three falls at Nunda being 60, 
90, and 110 feet ; the entire descent from head waters 
will be about 500 feet. The attitudes or high peaks 
1600 feet above tide. From this cluster of elevated 
slopes or roofs may be traced on a large map the re- 
motest web^like fibres of waters that have their outlets 
in the Chesapeake, Mississippi and St. Lawrence. 

The vast lavish expenditures by the State of New- 
York, of its power and immense resources, to extend its 

12* 



138 Upper Falls of the Genesee. 

canals and benefit and attract commerce to its numer- 
ous marts, are here displayed to advantage to the admi- 
ration of the traveller ; and by pursuing the canal that 
leads up the rich vale of the Genesee, smiling in fertili 
ty, to Portage and Nunda, where are concentrated the 
utmost human efforts, science and engineering skill, to 
counteract and overcome the baffling, rudest features 
of the wildest nature. The traveller that can devote 
a day or two should seize the present opportunity, 
while in the vicinity, to behold such gigantic and 
remarkable works of art. 

Steamboats that ply from Niagara along the south 
shore of the lake to Oswego, and Sackett's Harbour, and 
Ogdensburgh, also look into this river, and land and 
receive passengers. The ridge road from this to Lew- 
iston is 80 miles, parallel with the lake shore, and either 
by this or some other mode, (of steamboat to Niagara 
River, or of canal to Lockport, or any way that will 
bring the traveller in such a direction to this frontier, 
as that he may catch the first view of the cataract in 
going up, either from Lewiston or Queenston,) the 
traveller should approach Niagara till the spectacle sud- 
denly bursts upon him in all its panoramic glory, when 
beheld in front, or coming from the north. In our 
opinion this is preferable to making the approach 
from the rear, or south, and then coming round to the 
front. 

There are six basins or stopping places at short dis- 
tances between Rochester and Brockport, viz : King's, 
six and a half miles ; Webber's, two and a half beyond ; 
Kilborn's, one and a half ; Spencer's, one and a half, 
within a mile or two of Parma on the ridge road ; then 
Webster's, one ; Bates', two, at the embankment over 
Salmon Creek ; Cooley's, two and a half; Brockway or 
port, two and a half. This is a town of 300 to 400 
houses, many of them of three and four stories high, 
of brick or freestone, seven or eight commission ware- 
houses, taverns, stores, in the customary abundance 



Holley Embankment — Sandy Creek. 139 

and variety ; one Presbyterian, one Baptist, and one 
Methodist church, of stone and brick, with steeples, 
also an Episcopal congregation, five schools, a large 
college building of five stories high, a grist mil], two 
tanneries, and machine factory. This is a large wheat 
purchasing mart. 

At the end of the next five miles .occurs the Holley 
embankment of 76 feet high above the creek, before en- 
tering the village that contains 70 dwellings, many of 
brick, on six streets, a Baptist and a Presbyterian 
church, 3 mills, a furnace, a woollen factory for making 
flannels and cloths, besides stores and taverns. 

Sandy Creek, at the junction of the two main branch- 
es, has 4 mills, 4 stores, 3 taverns, 1 tannery, and 25 
dwellings. North Murray has a Baptist church, two 
stores, a tavern, and 10 dwellings. Scio, on the canal, 
six miles east from Albion, has a Methodist church, a 
mill, store, a tavern, and 20 dwellings. Smith's Basin 
is six and a half miles west of Holley, and is the half- 
way basin. Gaines' Basin, one and a half miles north 
of Albion, has 12 dwellings, a warehouse, and 3 stores. 
Gaines' Village has 50 dwellings, 3 miles northwest of 
Albion, 2 churches, 2 taverns, 4 dry goods stores, 1 tan- 
nery, 1 ashery. 

Fair Haven, two and a half miles north of Albion, has 
15 dwellings, a store, tavern, and Universalist church. 
Otter Creek embankment is 55 feet high, and in one 
and a hahf miles is another long embankment at Clark's 
Brook of 15 feet high, and in three miles is the Fish 
Creek embankment, and an arched road-way under the 
canal. The village of Oak Orchard is two and a half 
miles off to the right, on the ridge road, and has 10 
dwellings, two taverns, a store, 1 grist and 2 saw-mills. 
The aqueduct over iOak Orchard Creek has an arch 
of 60 feet span, and here comes in a feeder of half a 
mile long. The Oak Orchard Creek has a fall near the 
canal of 30 feet near Medina. The Oak Orchard rises 
on the table land, south 35 miles, and runs north towards 



140 Albion — Medina. 

Lake Ontario, and joins it at Fish Bay. It flows through 
the great Tonnawanta swamp, that is 25 miles long, 
east to west, and two to seven in breadth, an area of 
50,000 acres, and occupies the submerged land south 
of the highest ridge 400 feet above Ontario. In rainy 
seasons this swamp is flooded deep, and drains but slow. 
An open aqueduct or feeder of four and a half miles is 
cut through marsh, and part of the way through solid 
rock, by which the upper waters of the Tonnawanta, 
that would otherwise be absorbed in the Niagara, are 
now diverted in part to the north, and led to the Oak 
Orchard Creek, that through the marsh was sluggish, 
and before this tapping of the Tonnawanta, was in the 
summer of no importance ; its mass has now been 
greatly increased, and is made use of for hydraulic pur- 
poses, as after breaking through the barrier on the north 
it is rapid, and has a smooth rocky bed, and in leaping 
over the ridges, forms some beautiful cascades. 

Albion, the capital of Orleans County, has grown up 
since 1823, is on the canal near the centre of the county, 
35 miles from Rochester, 50 from Buffalo, 28 from 
Lockport, 18 from Batavia, and 10 south of Lake Onta- 
rio. It has 220 dwellings of brick and wood ; some are 
large and neat. The public square is decorated by a 
court-house of brick with the county offices ; a Presby- 
terian and a Methodist church, and a school for females. 
It has a bank, capital $200,000, thirteen dry goods, 
one book, one hardware, two drug, and many other 
stores, also tanneries, ashery, grist, saw, cloth and card- 
ing mill, a furnace, five taverns, various mechanics, nine 
lawyers, five physicians, two newspapers. 

Medina is 10 miles west of Albion, and has 250 
dwellings, a Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Epis- 
copal church, 10 dry goods, a brewery, a tannery, a card- 
ing, and cloth dressing mill, a shingle factory, 3 taverns, a 
high school, a seminary for ladies, a newspaper, &c. 
This is a business-like and growing village. Eagle Har- 
bour, three miles west of Albion, has 15 dwellings, a 
Methodist church, three stores, and a warehouse. 



Barre Centre — Middleport. 141 

Barre Centre, three miles, and South Barre, six miles 
south of Albion, have 25 dwellings each. Knowles- 
ville, on the canal, six miles west of Albion, has a Bap- 
tist and Presbyterian church, 30 dwellings, 4 dry goods, 
one drug store, a tannery, an ashery, 2 taverns. Shel- 
by's Basin, on the canal, 13 miles west of Albion, has 
a Universalist church, a tavern, tannery, two stores, 12 
dwellings. 

Servos' Basin is 46 miles from Rochester, and in one 
quarter of a mile is the embankment over the middle 
branch of Oak Orchard Creek. 

Middleport, near the east line of Niagara county, 12 
miles from Lockport, has 40 dwellings, 3 warehouses, 
4 stores, 2 taverns, 1 Methodist church, and an embank- 
ment over the west branch of Oak Orchard Creek. 
Gasport, on the canal six miles east of Lockport, has 
an inflammable spring which rises in the canal basin ; 
it has a few dwellings, a tavern, store, and warehouse. 
One and a half miles west of Middleport is the embank- 
ment over Johnson's Creek, 25 feet high, and in three 
miles onward is the embankment over Eighteen Mile 
Creek, 20 feet, and in one mile is a basin. 

Eight miles from a basin, Royalton, brings us along 
the foot of the mountain ridge to Lockport, the termi- 
nation of the long western level of 65 miles from this 
to Perrington beyond the Genesee. The natural ravine 
that here forms an oblong or horse -shoe amphitheatri- 
cal basin of six acres, embosoming and sheltering the 
expansion, is a most remarkable finale to this end of the 
long level ; and if this ravine had been made by the aid 
and ingenious labours of man, by blasting and hard 
knocks, at an expense of millions, that in such an event 
it must have cost, it could not even then have received 
a better shape and adaptation to its purpose as the mag- 
nificent terminus to the long level, and the still more 
stupendous portal as cut through the rock of 60 to 90 ft. 
that introduces us to the rocky barrier that admits us to 
the upper lakes. 

The two long levels on the canal, and the Lockport 
basin, the Wat Hoix gap on the Mohawk, and per- 



142 Lockpoi-t. 

haps other places and remarkable features, no doubt 
conduced to aid the ingenuity of man in completing 
this Herculean undertaking of tracing and excavating 
for 362 miles, a channel to unite the waters of the lakes 
and the ocean by the deep majestic link of the Hudson 
and Mohawk. 

Stockport, 

the capital of Niagara County, is founded upon the 
summit and the base of the terrace or rocky ridge, that 
stretches from Lewiston heights on the Niagara, east- 
ward towards the Oneida Lake. In 1821 its site was 
a farm, and was then surveyed and divided into city 
lots, and the incorporated limits of one and three quar- 
ters by one and a half miles, cover an area of 1,680 
acres, and is composed of an upper and lower town or 
terrace. There are 500 houses, and 6,000 inhabitants 
of all grades, and the usual variety of professions, 
trades, and employments. A railroad of 20 miles here 
extends to Niagara Falls. 

Its buildings, bolh public and private, are of the ex- 
cellent stone that is here quarried ; such is the court 
house and jail, and some of the nine churches or meet- 
ing-houses. There is an academy, and one seminary 
for males, and one for females, and many select and 
common schools, several hotels in good repute, a bank, 
capital $100,000, a lyceum, for literary and scientific 
purposes, a library, two bookstores, and numerous dry- 
goods stores and groceries. 

The flouring business here also takes precedence, 
there being four large mills with 24 run of stones that 
make annually 47,000 barrels of flour, worth $235,000. 
The great abundance of water derived from Lake Erie, 
that is brought through the deep cut to the brow of the 
ridge, and all around the basin, is used in part for the 
following mills and factories, viz. one for sawing stone, 
one cotton and one woollen factory, two double gang 
saw-mills, five single saws, one machine shop, two fur- 



LockporL 143 

naces for forging and working iron, one set of machin- 
ery for making barrels, one window sash factory, one 
carding and cloth dressing mill. There are four wagon 
makers, and one coach maker, six turning lathes, two 
chair factories, ten smiths, two gun smiths, two tin, 
copper and sheet-iron workers, three newspapers. The 
waste water of the above mills, and of the five combin- 
ed or double locks of the sixty feet mountain ridge, af- 
ter it has fulfilled its hydraulic operations in its descent 
to the basin, is there retained by a dam across the ra-^ 
vine, and forms the lread or fountain to fill the long or 
sixty-five mile level, and as such is chiefly relied on, 
though the Oak Orchard, the Genesee, and other feed- 
ers are useful in their place. 

The upper village is about 80 feet above the level 
of the basin and long level of the canal, and this leads 
to many picturesque and pleasing sites, in disposition 
of houses, water, fee- 
In moving up in a boat to the head of the basin to 
enter the chain of double locks that are arranged in the 
most massive style, side by side, in huge chambers, with 
stone steps in the centre, guarded by iron railings on 
both sides for safety and convenience, the gates of the 
lock are closed after the boat is in the chamber, and 
the roaring and sudden influx of the water from the lock 
above, in three or four minutes raises the boat to the 
level of the next lock above, and this is repeated five 
times, the adjoining side lock being, perhaps, employed in 
letting a boat pass down the lock to the basin and canal. 
The boat having in this manner risen up 62 feet in 
five lifts, the passenger is astonished to contemplate 
before him a vista of several miles, bounded on either 
hand by walls of the solid limestone rock, 25 to 'SO feet 
high, and very appropriately called the Deep Rock 
Cutting at Lockport, and this continues for several 
miles south, but gradually diminishes in height as the 
rock dips under the soil, when we emerge at Pendleton, 
through a guard lock into the dark waters of the Ton- 
nawanta Creek, that by means of a dam at its mouth of 
four and a half feet, that backs the water and raises it 



144 Ellicott's Creek — Black Rock. 

to a level with Lake Erie, is, for twelve miles from this, 
as still and sluggish as a canal, and is 120 feet wide and 
16 feet deep, with a tow-path on its south bank, and in 
this 12 miles is only a descent of one foot. This creek 
is the boundary of Niagara and Erie Counties, and rises 
in the south part of Genesee, and has a course of north - 
north-west and west, for mere than 80 miles to the Ni- 
agara River, opposite Grand Island and the new village 
of Tonnawanta, with its mills and 20 houses, &c. From 
the dam here are outlet locks from the Erie Canal to 
the Niagara River. The East Boston Company, pro- 
prietors of Grand Island, are interested in this place, 
and also own White Haven, on Grand Island, where 
tfcey have 50 families and 200 workmen, a steam grist 
mill and saw mill 150 feet square, with room for 15 
gangs of saws, a building used for school and church, a 
wharf, and a dock for floating timber. 

Ellicott's Creek comes into the Tonnawanta just 
above the dam. 

Turning round to the south and leaving the Tonna- 
wanta behind, we advance along the banks of the clear 
blue Niagara, (here 100 rods in width over to Grand 
Island) on the one hand, and the higher banks of the 
Erie Canal on the east, passing the Long Meadows at 
Two Mile Creek, and in 6 miles are at the lower end 
of Black Rock Harbour, and the sloop lock and mills, 
Skajocketa Creek, and Squaw Island, and the mole, 
then 1 mile to Black Rock, 1 to the upper end of the 
mole at Bird Island, and 1 and a half to Buffalo city, 
the queen of the lakes. 

Black Rock has 350 dwellings, is 3 miles from Buf- 
falo, and is opposite the village of Waterloo and Fort 
Erie, (in ruins.) The River Niagara, or more correctly 
perhaps, the St. Lawrence, is here near 1 mile wide 
and 25 deep, and has a current of G miles an hour, is of 
a sea green colour, and has a ferry to the Canadian 
shore. The mole, a crib 18 feet wide, filled with stone, 
that extends from Bird Island north, and forms the har- 
bour, (88 to 220 yards broad,) is 4,565 yards long, 



Outlet of Lake Erie. 145 

nearly parallel to the east shore thus forming a narrow, 
but secure refuge inside of the break-water, of an area 
of 136 acres, and raising the water at the lower part of 
the dam 4 feet, that could be used for 100 mills, that no 
drought or season could ever affect. There are now 1 
flouring mill, 1 grist of two run, 2 saw, a stave, and 
carding and fulling mill, 1 iron foundry and steam- 
engine factory, a distillery, and grinding mill, and at 
Squaw Island, a saw and shingle mill, and a glass fac- 
factory. 

A railroad of 3 miles on the low bank at the harbour's 
side leads to Buffalo, and the railroad from Buffalo to 
the Falls of Niagara is on the upper bank. The town 
plat embraces 1,212 acres. In the mania for specula- 
ting in 1836, an association purchased the property of 
P. B. Porter, of 400 seres of land, house, factories, water 
power, &c. for $300,000. The State of New- York for- 
merly owned a mile in width along the frontier, from 
Lake Erie to Ontario, that was not sold to the Holland 
Company. 

The floor of the lake at the water's edge on the Ca- 
nadian shore, near Fort Erie, where the waves and surf 
act with full effect, and where the indraught towards 
the river is very strong, is of limestone, extending by a 
gradual slope into the lake towards Buffalo. The deso- 
lating effects of war are yet visible on the walls of this 
fortification ; some of the iron pills are still to be seen, 
deeply fixed in the thick limestone walls that are black- 
ened with smoke. From this position is a fine view of 
the lake, and of Buffalo, Black Rock, and of the American 
shore ; and in proceeding from Black Rock by the up- 
per town towards Buffalo, is a still more extensive view 
of the grandeur of the lake, and of its iron-bound shores 
on the south, to the utmost extent of vision. 

The Erie Canal continues on from the Black Rock 
harbour 114 chains to Little Buffalo Creek, in fhe heart 
of the town, with lateral branches through the lower 
town. 

A mole and pier of wood and stone extends 1,500 feet 
13 



146 Approach to Buffalo. 

into the lake from the south shore of the creek, and at 
the extremity of the pier is a light-house 46 feet high, 
20 in diameter* at base, of yellow sandstone. Vessels 
of 8 feet draught can enter this harbour, a mile in ex- 
tent, and remain secure. A ship canal 80 feet wide 
and 13 deep, near the mouth of the creek, extends for 
700 yards. 

The approach to this city of the lake is, either by 
land or water, quite imposing, as its domes, turrets, 
steeples, and the successive streets and lake craft, are 
developed to our view ; and when it is considered that 
all we behold here has arisen from the industry and the 
labour of man within 10 or 20 years, it is gratifying to 
any philanthropist as being the result of our free insti- 
tutions. 
A marine hospital and railway are erected. 
Buffalo and Black Rock have a supply of water by a 
canal coming from the creek four miles above the city 
to its eastern limits, that has attracted to its borders a 
considerable population engaged in manufactures.— 
Steamboats for Detroit and the intermediate ports, and 
for Chippewa and the FaJls, go daily. Much inconven- 
ience to the trade on the canal, and to the commerce of 
Buffalo, is occasioned by the ice, that in April, or later, 
blocks up the harbour for several weeks, and this can, 
perhaps, only be obviated in part by continuing the ca- 
nal along the lake shore to Dunkirk or Portland, near 
the western border of the State. The great railroad 
from Dunkirk through the southern range of counties 
to the city of New- York, about 400 miles long, that is 
now in progress, is another cogent reason why this ca- 
nal should be continued to the same terminating point. 
For description of Buffalo, see p. 82 and 83. 
The increase of water is to be derived from Lake Erie 
from more width or slope ; the cut at Lockport in rock 
30 feet originally is now 62 feet wide, with vertical sides. 
Feeders from Black River, and other sources, are 
relied upon for a steady supply of water on the midftle 
division of the canal 



Locks and Lockage of the -Erie Canal 147 

Boats can now carry 100 to 150 tons. There were 
3,700 boats registered in the office of the Comptroller 
in 1840 ; two-thirds being in activity in the regular 
season, with 10,000 men, and horses in proportion ; trav- 
elling in 1839, 4,778,850 miles. 

There v/ere at first 82 lift locks ; now 74 double 
or twin-like side by side — the line of canal has been 
straightened and 8 locks omitted ; the cube of water is 70 
feet at top, 42 at bottom, 6 deep; locks 110 by 18 — 
aqueducts, doubled ; embankments faced with stone. 
The lockages on the Erie Canal are 25,962 in 228 days 
of navigation, equal to 114 daily, under the old system ; 
not then even one-third its capabilities. It remains to 
be seen what the double locks and the enlarged trunk 
can accomplish, aided by new cuts and straightening the 
line, reducing the locks and some of the levels near 
Jordan. 

Many vistas are now presented on the canal of great 
beauty near the Mohawk, and on the long levels of 
wide straight sections, or of graceful curves, with ma- 
sonic constructions of bridges or slopes, or low protec- 
tion walls, much improved from the early attempt. 

The Erie Canal cost $ 7,738,501 

N. Y. State debt in 1841 14,905,370 

N. Y. State resources in '41, are ass'd 

value real estate, 517,723,170 

Do. personal, .......... 121,449,830 

Total 639,173,000 

(The city of N. Y. real estate, . . . 231,258,964 
Do. do. Personal . . . 74,787,580) 

The U. S. deposite School and Litera- 
ture Fund is ........ $6,513,347 

Nett Canal revenue 1,250,000 

Saltworks 150,000 

Auction duties 175,000 

Treasury fees 65,000 



148 Welland Canal 

The ride along shore from Black Rock to Niagara is 
beautiful and eminently interesting ; the cerulean body 
of the Niagara river ; the islands, girt with trees of rich 
foliage, and the intense excitement and gayety of our 
approach to the grand cataract of the western world, pro- 
duces new and strong emotions in most susceptible 
minds. The continuation of this ride to Lewiston 
gives increased interest in the picturesque effect, and 
various new points of view, besides the Falls and the 
furious workings of the boiling torrent of waters, 
through the severed walls of natural masonry for six 
miles, passing with such velocity, that the eye may 
detect an elevation, or ridge, in the centre of the over- 
whelming mass. 

The Whirlpool, 2 miles below, where the leaping 
body of the deep Niagara, at a sudden angle of the 
rocky, lofty ramparts, receive a new direction in its 
course, is a most astonishing exhibition of fearful gran- 
deur and sublimity. The traveller should behold this, 
not only from the elevated bank, but from the waters' 
edge, to see the ceaseless whirl of this Maelstrom of 
fresh water. 

From the heights of Lewiston and Queenston, the 
boundless, glittering expanse of Lake Ontario, 334 feet 
lower than this position, and the deep forest that skirts 
the base of the heights, and reaches to the lake, with 
the river here issuing from its wild frightful career, 
and severe rocky enclosures above, into a placid surface, 
but full of majesty as a straggling giant, as it glides 
peacefully on its way to be lost in the depth of Ontario, 
presents one of the grandest scenes that can be con- 
templated. 



Welland Canal. 

This was the first canal made to connect Lakes Erie 
and Ontario by a navigation suitable for sloops, schoon- 
ers, and steamboats. 



Wetland Canal 149 

From the mouth of Grand River, which empties into 
Lake Erie, a towing path continues up the stream 128 
chains, thence up Broad Creek 70 chains, thence by a 
thorough cut through an extensive marsh 10 miles, 
thence down Mile Creek 2 and a half miles, until it in- 
tersects the river Welland, into which it descends by 
a lock of 8 feet lift, thence a towing path of 10 miles, 
and thence the canal takes a northerly direction to Lake 
Ontario, winding up a ravine 66 chains, with from 8 to 12 
feet cutting, to a guard gate to control the admission of 
the water of Lake Erie ; thence commences the deep 
cut through the ridge, which is here an almost ab- 
rupt height of 30 feet above the canal bottom, then 
gradually rises to 56 feet 6 inches in a distance of 106 
chains ; then gradually descends in a distance of 28 
chains to 30 feet, when it abruptly breaks off in another 
ravine — the entire distance through this cut is 1 mile 
54 chains, averaging about 44 feet cutting, to the depth 
of from 12 to 18 feet from the surface ; it is composed of 
clay with a small mixture of sand, and below this a 
tenacious blue clay. From the termination of the 
deep cut to that part where the mountain descends, the 
distance is 4 miles and 23 chains, the land is undula- 
ting, and composed alternately of ridges and ravines, 
running from east to west at right angles to the canal ; 
the ravines are generally below bottom level, and by 
an embankment on the west side of the canal they af- 
ford large and spacious reservoirs, embracing in all 2 
miles in length. From the last lock the canal contin- 
ues in a ravine 53 chains, gradually descending by 4 
locks of 22 feet width, thence 1 mile and 55 chains it 
curves round the brow of the mountain to the left, and 
again to the right, for the purpose of extending the 
(distance, to admit a pound between each lock, and 
I maintain the same gradual and easy descent: there are 
j 17 locks in this distance, and 60,000 yards of rock ex- 
cavation, which is all that was met with between the 
I lakes. 

From this the canal enters another ravine to Saint 
13* 



150 Welland Canal. 

Catherine's, a distance of 2* miles, in which there are 
12 locks of 22 feet width ; the banks are high, and the 
same easy descent is maintained ; through this is turned 
the mountain descent, as in a distance of 4 miles and 
72i chains, from lock No. 1 ; there are 32 locks with a 
declination of 322 feet, their dimensions are 100 feet 
in length and 22 feet in width, in the part calculated to 
pass vessels of 123 tons burthen from this to Lake On- 
tario, a distance of five miles, the canal continues most 
of the way in the bed of the main branch of Twelve 
Mile Creek. There are 3 locks in this space, (including 
the one at the harbour) 32 feet wide and 125 feet long, 
for the purpose of admitting steamboats from Lake On- 
tario. A large and commodious harbour is constructed 
at this place, by throwing an embankment 17 chains 
long, between two high ridges, and raising the water 6 
feet, which covers an area of 300 acres, capable of con- 
taining all the vessels of lumber which may be requir- 
ed for ages to come. The entrance is protected by 2 
piers, expending into the lake, one 200, the other 350 
yards. The general dimensions of the canal are 8 feet 
depth of water, and 26 feet width at the bottom, with a 
slope of two to one, which gives surface of water of 58 
feet. 

Welland Canal. The first idea of all canals, is sug- 
gested by the direction of natural water courses ; but in 
no instance have we ever seen the route of any canal 
more plainly laid down than through this peninsula. 

The Welland River is a large stream, peculiarly 
adapted for an extensive navigation, being from 12 to 
18 feet in depth, and from 3 to 4 chains in width. It 
divides the peninsula, discharging into the Niagara 
river 2i miles above the Falls, and extends with almost 
a dead level from 30 to 40 miles west. 



The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 151 
The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 

The Thousand Islands number from seventeen hundred 
to two thousand, and vary in size from ten miles in length 
to those of a rood square. Wells Island is the largest 
of the group, and forms what is called the Upper Nar- 
rows, the passage bringing vessels within pistol shot 
of the island. They occupy more than twenty-five 
miles in the river, which in some places is more than 
10 miles wide. They are little else than rock, with 
occasional patches of fertile land ; their sides are in 
many parts perpendicular rocks 30 feet in height, with 
abrupt shores and great depth of water. They are 
generally covered with dense forests and thick under- 
brush ; and the passages between them are narrow, 
winding, and often rocky. It is scarcely possible to 
conceive of a place better formed by nature to afford a 
secure retreat for freebooters than this cluster of islands, 
and in the Canadian revolt of 1837 — 8, they were the 
rendezvous and hiding places of the Bill Johnson gang 
that destroyed the British steamboat Sir Robert Peel, 
and committed other atrocities, and for a time set the 
authorities of the United States and Canada at defiance. 

The French name of this group is Mill Isle — they 
are of granite, while the continental shores are of 
horizontal limestone, transition, and floetz. Carlton and 
Grand Island or Wolf Island, belong to Canada : Grena- 
dier and Fox Islands are also of some importance — 
Cape Vincent is at the foot of Lake Ontario on the S.E. 
side, directly opposite to Kingston — Galloop island and 
Stony island are off to the west of Sackett's Harbour, or 
the bay that receives the Black River, Chaumont Bay. 
Ducks or Hungary Bay, between the Black River Bay 
and Cape Vincent, is a deep irregular indentation, con- 
taining one or more islands. The village of Chaumont, 
or the small stream of that name, that enters on the 
N. E. side of the bay, was named from and after M. Le 
Ray de Chaumont, the owner of large and valuable tracts 
of land in this county. 



152 The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 

There is a ferry from Cape Vincent across the branch 
of the lake, or rather the St. Lawrence, to Grand Island, 
of a mile or more in width ; and over the island the road 
leads N. W. for about 8 miles to a landing opposite 
Kingston, U. C. 

Amherst Island is a large and fertile island of 12 miles 
by 7 in extent, west of Kingston, and is the principal one 
in Lake Ontario, being somewhat aloof from the main 
group of smaller inlets or rocks called the Thousand 
Islands, and separated from Simcoe's and Squaw Island, 
Pigeon Island and Grand Island, by, a width of the lake 
of 5 to 8 miles. 

The Bay of Quinte, a very irregular fiord, or arm of 
the Lake, is 50 miles in extent,very narrow, and abounds 
in wild fowl and fish, nearly surrounds Prince Edward 
Co., as there is only a portage of a mile or so from 
Willers' Lake on the south, across the isthmus to the 
Bay of Quinte near the western extremity. The bay is 
very deep and the shores bold — 12 fathoms or more in 
the channel. There are roads laid out in various di- 
rections across the Presque Isle of Prince Edward Co., 
and the rides in various directions, present many pictu- 
resque views. A sail through the Bay of Quinte in the 
summer season, is very delightful. A wafer communi- 
cation, only used by canoe, &c. leads from its western 
end to Rice Lake, Shallow Lake, Simcoe Lake, and by 
a series of portages into Lake Huron, and affords in its 
windings a safe and secure harbour from the storms that 
agitate the lake at times. The soil around the bay is 
very fertile. The main channel or dividing line between 
the U. States and Canada, runs S. of Grand and Carleton 
Islands. 

Carleton Island is opposite Lyme in Jefferson Co. is 
several miles in extent, and has a good soil, and a severe 
winter climate with secure harbours. During the war 
of the revolution a fort was erected on this island, and 
it was an important military & naval depot & rendezvous 
for the British forces, sent to capture Oswego and Fort 
Stanwix in 1777 — but in 1789 the public stores were 



The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 153 

removed to Kingston, a corporal's guard only being left 
on the island till 1812. The fort is now in ruins and 
may be traced over 3 or 4 acres of ground. It stood on 
a promontory 50 or 60 feet above the waters' level, and 
had a fosse or ditch excavated from the solid rock with 
great labour, as also was the well to a depth of 70 or 80 
feet. The fort commanded each channel of the St. 
Lawrence, and was named after Sir Guy Carleton, a 
British officer and Governor of Canada. 

Grand Island, between Cape Vincent on the south, 
and Kingston on the north, 18 miles long, contains 
30 to 40,000 acres of land, and was formerly supposed 
to belong to the United States ; but the Boundary Com- 
missioners of the United States and Canada awarded it 
to the latter. Its position on the eastern part of the 
lake at the commencement of the Thousand Islands, 
and forming a barrier to the tumultuous waters of the 
deep lake, and its frontier aspect and intervention ren- 
der it a prominent object as we navigate these waters 
and enter upon the fairy scene of 50 or 60 miles from 
this to Ogdensburgh. Some sportive or playful freak 
of nature has here thrown together in beautiful and 
endless variety on the smooth blue bosom of the St. 
Lawrence or Irondequois, a wilderness of islands both 
large and small, that, as they breast the clear rapid in- 
terminable current of the magnificent stream, almost 
seem to float in air ; the round, green, exquisitely clothed 
and well wooded surfaces of evergreens, and shrubs of 
an emerald hue, flit before us as we insinuate our 
course in the magic channel between its constant turn- 
ings varied and tortuous windings, and seemingly inex- 
tricable labyrinths ; the scene changes, enlarges or con- 
tracts, one holds the breath in fear and enchantment, 
at the apparent peril of the scene in our impetuous 
course amid such narrow threatening barriers of rock 
on either side, that are skillfully avoided by the skipper 
in command as he penetrates the wonders of the Ma- 
gellanic strait, and breathless enchantment at the sudden 
and unlooked-for extrication from the Scylla and Cha- 



154 The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence. 

rybdis dangers that appear to environ the stranger and 
navigator in the mazes of destruction, only to introduce 
him in a moment to a spectacle, so magical, so varied in 
its groupings and changes, its aspects and features, and 
exhibiting such an infinity of diversified views as we 
may be proceeding up, or down stream, at different peri- 
ods, or seasons, in sunshine or in cloud, that we are 
absorbed in silent admiration, at the varied powers of 
nature. 



Erie and Junction Canal. 



155 



A LIST OF 
THE PRINCIPAL. PLACES ON THE CANAL, 

AND THEIR 
DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER, 

As adopted by the Canal Board. 



Erie and Junction Canal. 



NAMES OF PLACES. 



Albany, 

Port Schuyler, 

Washington, (Gibbonsville,) ... 

West Troy, 

Junction, • 

Cohoes, 

Lower Aqueduct, 

Willow Spring, 

Upper Aqueduct, 

Schenectady. 

Rotterdam , 

Phillip's Locks, 

Amsterdam, 

Schoharie Creek, 

Smithtown, (Auriesville,) 

Caughnawaga, (Fultonville,).-. 

Big Nose, 

Spraker's Basin, 

Cana joharie, 

Fort Plain, 

Diefendorf's Landing, 

Minden Dam, (St. Johnsville,). . 

East Canada Creek, 

Indian Castle, (Nowandago Creek,) 

Fink's Ferry, 

Little Falls, 

Rankin's Lock, (No. 7,) 

Herkimer Lower Bridge, 

Herkimer Upper Bridge, 

Fulmer's Creek,-.., 

Morgan's Landing, 



DISTANCE FROM 







,; 








>> 






ej 


ej 


<D 


-Q 




U 








< 


& 


« 





110 


269 


5 


105 


264 


6 


T 04 


263 


7 


03 


262 


9 


101 


260 


10 


i00 


259 


13 


97 


256 


19 


91 


250 


26 


84 


243 


30 


80 


239 


39 


71 


230 


44 


66 


225 


4 7 


63 


222 


52 


58 


217 


54 


56 


215 


57 


53 


212 


64 


46 


205 


66 


44 


203 


69 


41 


200 


72 


38 


197 


75 


35 


194 


77 


33 


192 


81 


29 


188 


83 


27 


186 


86 


24 


183 


88 


22 


181 


91 


19 


178 


95 


15 


174 


96 


14 


173 


97 


13 


172 


98 


12 


171 



364 
359 
358 
357 
355 
354 
351 
345 
338 
334 
325 
320 
317 
312" 
310 
307 
30O 
298 
295 
292 
289 
287 
283 
281 
278 
276 
273 



267 

277 



156 



Erie and Junction Canal. 



NAMES OF PLACES. 



DISTANCE FROM 



Steel's Creek, 

Frankfort, ■ 

Ferguson's, 

Utica, 

York Mills, (Wetm ore's,). 

Whitesboro', 

Oriskany, 

Rome, 

Wood Creek Aqueduct, (Fort Bull,) 

Hawley's Basin, 

Stoney Creek, 

New London, 

Higgins', «# 

Loomis', 

Oneida Creek, (Durhamville,) 

Canastota, 

New Boston, (Canasaraga,) 

Chittenango, 

Pool's Brook, 

Kirkville, 

Little Lake, 

Manlius, (Reel's,) 

Limestone Feeder, 

Orville Feeder, 

Lodi, 

Syracuse, 

Geddes, 

Belleisle, • •••• 

Nine Mile Creek, 

Camillus, 

Canton, 

Peru, 

Jordan, 

Cold Spring, 

Weedsport, 

Centreport, 

Port Byron, 

Montezuma, (Lakeport,) 

Lockpit, 

Clyde, 

Lock Berlin, . • 

Lyons, • ••• 

Lockville, 

Newark, 

Port Gibson, • 



99 
101 
107 
110 
113 
114 
117 
125 
127 
129 
130 
132 
136 
138 
141 
146 
150 
153 
156 
158 
160 
162 
163 
165 
170 
171 
173 
177 
178 
179 
184 
186 
190 
191 
196 
197 
199 
205 
211 
216 
221 
225 
231 
232 
235 



74 

76 

80 

81 

86 

87 

89 

95 

101 

106 

Hi 

115 

121 

122 

125 



Erie and Junction Canal 



157 



NAMES OF PLACES. 





DISTANCE 


FROM 


Sm 


>> 




© 




Cj 


•j 


M 


Cm 


< 


B 


w 


5 


240 


130 


29 


4 


244 


134 


25 


3 


247 


137 


22 


2 


249 


139 


20 


2 


251 


141 


18 


1 


252 


142 


17 


1 


253 


143 


16 


3 


256 


146 


13 


3 


259 


149 


10 


4 


363 


153 


6 


2 


265 


155 


4 


4 


269 


159 





10 


279 


169 


10 


2 


281 


171 


12 


3 


284 


174 


15 


3 


287 


177 


18 


2 


289 


179 


20 


5 


294 


184 


25 


4 


298 


188 


29 


6 


304 


194 


35 


2 


306 


196 


37 


1 


307 


197 


38 


2 


309 


199 


40 


2 


311 


201 


42 


1 


312 


202 


43 


3 


315 


205 


46 


3 


318 


208 


49 


3 


321 


211 


52 


3 


324 


214 


55 


2 


326 


216 


57 


7 


333 


223 


64 


7 


340 


230 


71 


2 


342 


232 


73 


4 


346 


236 


77 


fi 


352 


242 


83 


8 


360 


250 


91 


1 


351 


251 


92 


3 


364 


254 


95 



Palmyra, 

Macedonville, 

Wayneport, (Barrager's Basin,) 
Perrinton, (Lindel's Bridge,) . . . 
Perrinton Centre, (Col. Peter's,) 

Fairport, 

Fullam's Basin, 

Bushnell's Basin, 

Pittsford, 

Billing!) ast's Basin, 

Lock No. 3, 

Rochester, 

Brock way's 

Spencer's Basin,. 

Adams' Basin, 

Cooley's Basin, 

Brockport, 

Holley, 

Scio, 

Albion, - 

Gaines' Basing 

Eagle Harbour, 

Long Bridge, 

Knowlesville, 

Road Culvert, 

Medina, 

Shelba Basin, 

Middleport, 

Reynold's Basin, 

Gasport, 

Lockport, 

Pendleton, 

Weich's,.-.. 

H. Brockway's, 

Tonnawanta, 

Lower Black Rock, 

Black Rock,... 

Buffalo, 



14 



158 



Champlain Canal. 
Chainplain Canal. 



NAMES OF PLACES. 



DISTANCE FROM 



Albany 

West Troy, 

Junction, 

Waterford, 

Mechanicville, 

Stillwater Village, 

Bleecker's Basin, 

Wilber's Basin, 

Van Duzen's Landing, 

Schuylerville, 

Saratoga Bridge, 

Fort Miller, 

Moses Kill, 

Fort Edward, 

Glenn's Fails Feeder, • • 

Baker's Basin, 

Smith's Basin, 

Fort Ann, 

Comstock's Landing,. 
Whitehall, 



Whole distance Erie Canal, 

do. do. Champlain Canal, 



.363 miles. 
. 64 do. 



Route and Expenses from New-York to 
St. Louis, 



New-York to Albany, 50 cents to 82 00 

Albany to Buffalo, by Erie Canal, in packet boat, 
" " " in line boat, 

Buffalo to Erie, by steam, 

Buffalo to Ashtabula, by steam, .... 

Buffalo to Cleveland, Ohio, by steam, 

Erie to Beaver, on the Ohio, by stage, including food, 

Beaver to Cincinnati, by steam, .... 

Cincinnati to Louisville, by steam, 

Louisville to Shawaneetown, by steam, 

Louisville to St. Louis, by steam, 



do. 


15 00 


do. 


9 00 


do. 


3 00 


do. 


4 50 


do. 


6 50 


do. 


5 50 


do. 


JO 00 


do. 


3 00 


do. 


6 00 


do- 


12 00 



Steamboat Route to St. Louis. 159 

Steamboat Route to St. Louis, via Lake Erie, &c 
above 1200 miles. 

From Buffalo to Dunkirk, 45 miles. 

Portland, 60 

Erie, 90 

Salem, 120 

Ashtabula, 235 

Grand River, 165 

Cleveland,, 195 

Huron, 245 

Sandusky, 260 

Detroit, , 330 

Mackina, 600 

Green Bay, 750 

Chicago, 900 

Stage coaches go from Chicago to St. Louis, 320 miles. 

do- to Galena, Wisconsin, is 1 60 

miles, time 2 days and nights, stage fare $12 to $15. 

Resources of Pennsylvania. 

SUMMARY OF STATE WORKS. 

Miles. Cost. 

Railroads in operation, 118 $6,034,429 

Canals, do 655 21,351,822 

Canals unfinished, 113 4, 140,439 

Railroads, do 23 666,664 

Interest on unfinished works, 3,304,304 

Total, 1,009 35,497,658 

SUMMARY OF COMPANY WORKS. 

Miles. Cost. 

Company Railroad completed, 610 $19,454,060 

Private, do. do. 105 165,000 

I Company do. not finished, 63 1,933,836 

'; Company Canals completed, 380 13,212,973 

Total, 1,158 34,765,709 

Total of Canals and Railroads in 

Pennsylvania, 2,167 $70,263,503 



160 Resources of Pennsylvania — continued. 

Value of real estate, of all descriptions in 

the State, including State works, farms, 

buildings, &c, estimated at $1,400,000,000 

Personal estate, do 700,000,000 

Total,. $2,100,000,000 

ANNUAL PRODUCTIONS. 

Agriculture,, $126,620,617 

Manufactures, except iron, 43,1^1,843 

Iron and Manufactures of Iron, 21,254,133 

Anthracite Coal mined, 5,000,000 

Bituminous do. do 4,000,000 

Total, $200,025,593 

The public debt, $36,331,00^ is a trifle in this rich and 
powerful Commonwealth. We can pay it in a single year. 



Cost of Railroads in the State of New- York and 
Distances on the various Lines* 

Miles. Cost. 
1st. Albany to the Eastern bor- 
der of New- York, 39 $ 600,000 

2d. Albany to Schenectady,.. 15 1,100,000 

3d. Schenectady to Utica, .. . 78 1,968,022 

4th. Utica to Syracuse, 58 1,017,731 

5th. Syracuse to Auburn, 26 600,000 

6th. Auburn to Rochester,... 79 1,500,000 

7th. Rochester to Batavia, ... 32 400,000 

8th. Batavia to Buffalo, 40 500,000 

367 $7,685,753 

9th. Schenectady to Saratoga, 21 $297,237 297,237 

10th. Troy to Ballston, 23| 450,000 450,000 

Troy to Schenectady,.... 15 

Troy to Greenbusb, 6 

Buffalo to Niagara, 23 1 10,000 1 10,000 

Buffalo to Black Rock,.. 5 7,500 7,500 

Niagara to Lockport,.... 20 175,000 175,000 

LonglslandtoGreenport, 90 1,500,000 1,500,000 



Cost of Railroads in the State of New- York. 161 

Miles. Cost. 

Harlem to White Plains, 25 1,500,000 1,500,000 
Hudson and Berkshire,.. 33 500,000 500,000 

Catskill to do. . . 22 

Ithaca and Owego, ...... 29 

Bath to Crooked Lake, . . 5 

Rochester to Port Genesee, 30,000 30,000 

Port K,ent to Keesville, . . 4* 

New- York and Erie,. . . .450 10,000,000 

,$12,650,590 

Railroads in Massachusetts. 

Milts. Cost. 

Boston to Worcester, 44 $1,940,000 

Worcester to Springfield, 54 2,000,000 

Springfield to West Stockbridge,.. 64 3,235,000 

WesfStockbridge to Albany, 39 estimate 1,500,000 

201 $8,675,000 

Average cost per mile, $43,962. Gross income from 
passengers, $682,387 — from freight, $342,240. Nett in- 
come, $589,751. 

The main trunk, or grand artereal current of travehrom 
East to West from the Atlantic Ocean to the great Lakes, 
is 530 miles in extent: all this has been completed 
within ten years, and a large portion in less time, since 
the grand discovery and perfection of steam locomotive 
power, as applied on iron rails. 

For rapid travelling, the American public prefer the 
new system of cars and steam, rather than steamboats, 
where they come in opposition ; but where a choice is 
offered, at equitable prices, it is desirable to sustain both 
for competition and enjoyment of scenery. 

From the Niagara river to the eastern border of the 
State of New- York, 367 miles ; the cost of this grand 
connected series of iron rails has been $7,685,753 ; 
this added to the central line that pervades Massachu- 
setts, as above, costing $8,675,000, forms a total of 
§16,360,000. 

14* 



162 West Troy. 

The v/idth of the track is four feet eight and a half 
inches. The State of Massachusetts lent its credit to 
the extent of six millions to perfect this arduous work, 
that, from the expensive deep rock cutting heavy 
embankments and constructions of solid masonry, proved 
much more costly than other portions. The six rail- 
roads in Massachusetts have yielded a nett income on 
their cost of 8£ per cent, for one hundred and sixty-one 
and a half miles of road. 



Route from Albany, Troy, Ballston and Sara- 
toga, to JLake George, Ticonderoga, and White- 
hall. 

The capital macadamized road of six miles, that leads 
by the side of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River to 
Gibbonsville, and past the United States arsenal to 
West Troy, six miles, is one of the best roads in the 
State, and cost $90,000. The Arsenal is comprised 
within a very extensive plot of ground, bisected by the 
Erie Canal, and adjoining the main road, and consists of 
several fire-proof edifices, and large stores of small 
arms, and the various munitions of war, ordnance shops, 
&c. : this is one of the most important national depots, 
and is worth a moment's time of the traveller to behold, 
as the armory always contains an immense stock of 
small arms, arranged in glittering and imposing manner, 
and the relics of the revolutionary parks of artillery, 
and of some presented by the king of France, Louis 14th. 

West Troy has grown up rapidly, and is a suburb of 
Troy, and with it identified in interest and prosperity, 
containing 500 dwellings and 3,300 inhabitants, employ- 
ed principally in manufactures, with a bank of a capital 
of $150,000. There is an India rubber manufactory, 
and several operations carried on that derive water 
power from the surplus waters of the Erie and Junction 
Canals, that by a side cut have an outlet here into the 
Hudson, and across the river to Troy, and the inter- 



West Troy. 163 

course by means of ferries and the rail-road bridge is 
constantly kept up. 

One of the sprouts of the Mohawk passes under the 
bridge that leads from West Troy to Tibbitt's Island. 
The lower ferry near the arsenal, leads across the Hud- 
son, here one eighth of a mile wide, to Washing- 
ton street and the foot of Mount Ida on the east bank, 
300 feet high, from which is one of the finest views and 
panoramic scenes on the Hudson. The mansion and 

grounds of John Hart and Wilson occupy the 

summit, and George Tibbits the next one north. 

The middle ferry, passing beyond Liberty and Division 
streets, lands at Ferry-street, and penetrates the central 
part of the city to the east. The next streets in a par- 
allel direction to the last, are in succession, Congress, 
State, Albany, Elbow, Grand ; the two latter extending 
east past the Rensselaer Institute, established by the 
late patroon, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Esq., for gratu- 
itous education, by A. Eaton. 

The next in order are Federal-street, and the rail-road 
bridge, Jacob, Hutton, and Hoosick streets ; from the 
latter, the capital macadamized road leads out north-east 
to Bennington in Vermont, 28 miles, and the company 
that constructed it have the grant of laying rails on the 
same, connected with the rail-road to Brattleboro', on 
the Connecticut River ; thence is a rqad to Lowell, on 
the Merrimac, making a new route to Boston. 

The next streets north of Hoosick are Vanderheyden, 
Jay, Rensselaer, and North, (east of which is Mount 
Olympus, 120 feet high,) then Middlebury, Canal, and 
Dow-streets, and the water-works on the north, and the 
State dam of nine feet high, extending across the Hud- 
son, and backing the water to Lansinburgh and Water- 
ford, with locks of a size to pass sloops. 

River-street is the principal thoroughfare next to the 
Hudson, and contains the principal warehouses, stores, 
and shops, and some hotels : the Mechanic, the Troy, 
and Mansion houses ; the two latter on Albany and 
River streets, the Franklin, corner of Elbow-street, and 



164 Troy. 

Washington Hall, corner of Grand and Division-streets, 
and Steam's, near King-street, and the Northern Hotel, 
between Jacob and Hutton, River and Second-streets, the 
American, and the National. 

Next to River-street on the east, are streets named 
from First to Seventh-streets, and on First-street is the 
bank of Troy, the Presbyterian and Scotch Presbyteri- 
an churches, and on Second-street is the celebrated Sem- 
inary for females, so long and ably managed by Mrs. 
Willard, (lately retired, and succeeded by her son and 
daughter in-law, Mr. and Mrs. John H. Willard, as joint 
principals, aided by 17 assistant teachers.) The terms 
are $240 per annum. The Episcopal and Presbyterian 
churches are creditable and ornamental edifices, as is 
the court house, of marble, with pillars in the Grecian 
style. 

Troy has a population of 20,000 ; 4 banks, total capital 
$1,318,000, and 3 insurance companies $800,000 ; 12 
churches, (4 Presbyterian, 2 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 
Methodist, 1 Roman Catholic, 1 Bethel, 1 Friends, 1 
Universalist,) a market and a jail, £ lyceum of natural 
history and cabinet of minerals, an asylum for orphans, 
a house of industry, several daily and weekly papers, 
and many schools. The houses are of brick, there hav- 
ing been several large fires that have most used up the 
wooden ones ; the streets are paved and ornamented 
with trees, and jets of water from the reservoir, that 
has a head of 75 feet, and supplies the city by iron pipes 
subterranean. 

The warehouses fronting the Hudson are lofty, and 
the enterprise, activity, zeal, and public spirit manifes- 
ted by the citizens of Troy, in competing with Albany 
for the steam-boat business, and the canal and river 
trade, and in rail-roads to the Springs, and roads to the 
interior, evince the stamina of wealth and perseverance . 

As a residence either temporary or permanent, for bu- 
siness, pleasure, or health, it has much to recommend 
it. It is incorporated, and has six wards, a mayor, and 
12 aldermen. 



Troy — Cascadilla. 1 65 

The first house built in the village of Vanderheyden, 
as it was called in 1707, yet remains, corner of River 
and Division-streets. In 1787 there were but four 
dwellings, and the ground was covered with oaks and 
pines. The Poesten and Wynant's Kill, coming from 
the east, have a descent of 400 feet in 4 miles, of which 
270 are in the city bounds, and give great power, that 
is used for a variety of purposes, by four flouring mills 
(capable of making 100,000 barrels of flour yearly,) a 
woollen and cotton factory, nail and spike factory, and roll- 
ing and slitting, one paper mill. 

Cascadilla, at the iron works one mile off, has 60 
dwellings. 

There are also air furnaces, a steam engine and ma- 
chine factory, breweries, tanneries, four large tallow 
chandlers, famous for making the best tallow candles, 
two carriage factories, whose stages are seen all over 
the United States, bell and brass founderies, three plas- 
ter mills, two burr mill stone factories, a shovel and 
spade factory, a rope walk, bleaching and colouring 
works. There are 100 vessels owned in this place, and 
several of the largest steam-boats on the Hudson, that 
carry yearly 232,000 tons of freight, and 10 tow boats 
that carry 66,000 tons, 160 canal boats, of 30 to 40 tons 
each, belonging to the Troy line to bring produce to 
this city direct, 67 cotton and 40 woollen factories are 
within the range and influence of the Troy market to 
the east and north, and draw their supplies hence, and 
the water power that is still unemployed in this vicini- 
ty, that may be drawn from the Hudson and Mohawk, 
&c, is immense. 

A pleasant walk may be taken along the banks of the 
Poesten and other kills, tracing them up to their sum- 
mits, through narrow gorges or ravines, and cragged 
rocks, amid trees, and shrubs, and murmuring falls and 
cascades, wild, romantic, and picturesque. 

The great slide or land slip that took place from the 
disruption of a hill to the east of, and immediately in 
the rear of Troy, in 1837, by which several lives were 



166 Troy — Lansingburg. 

lost, is well worth viewing as a matter of curiosity, and 
though the ascent, by toiling up Congress street, past 
Mr. Tibbit's, and thence to the right or south to Mount 
Ida, may be arduous, yet the view that will unfold it- 
self to the eye is splendid, and cannot but be impressive. 

The alluvial flats at the foot of the hill are from a 
quarter to half a mile wide, and the arrangement of 
the city plat is into blocks of 400 by 280 feet, intersec- 
ted by alleys. Fifteen of the streets range north and 
south, and 19 east and west, and are 60 feet wide, 
gravelled or paved, and lighted. 

Omnibusses and stages are continually passing be- 
tween Albany and Troy, for a fare of 12| cents each pas- 
senger. 

Lansingburg is three miles north of Troy, has 3,000 
inhabitants, six churches, and 500 dwellings, principally 
on one street, and a bank. It is laid out in squares 
400 by 260 feet, with alleys and wide streets, is oppo- 
site the mouth of the Mohawk ; and the roar of the Co- 
hoes Falls can be heard at night, and from the hills in 
the rear it can be seen at a distance of five miles west 
beyond Van Schaick's Island, where was the camp of the 
Americans before the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga, 
in 1777, and here the army under Gen. Schuyler had 
intrenched, and were to have made a last and desper- 
ate stand, if the enemy had thus far advanced. 

Famous good ale is here made by several establish- 
ments on a large scale, and there are 40 stores, 
much business, and many mills and factories. The com- 
munication with the towns below, by hourly coaches, 
omnibusses, &c. make this almost a suburb of Troy. 

Waterford has four churches, 200 dwellings, popu- 
lation 2,000, and a bank with a capital of $ 100,000, 
several flour mills and manufactories that derive 
their water power from the Mohawk ; and here are 
three locks of 11 feet, uniting the Champlain Canal to 
the Hudson and Mohawk. The bridge over the Hud- 
son to Lansingburg, of 800 feet long, cost $70,000, 



. Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. 167 

was carried away in the great storm and freshet of 
26th and 27th of January, 1839. This is the extreme 
head of sloop navigation. The Cohoes Falls, on the 
Mohawk, that are elsewhere described, (see p. 104,) 
may be visited in a ride of three miles from this place, 
and the aqueduct over the Mohawk, and other scenes 
and points of importance. 

The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad starts in Troy 
from the vicinity of the fashionable hotels, the Troy 
House, and the Mansion House, at the junction of Al- 
bany and River-streets, and goes through River to 
Frederick-street, and thence crosses the Hudson by a 
covered bridge 1,600 feet long, on eight piers of cut 
stone, 30 feet above high water, and 34 feet wide, with 
a water way of 180 feet between each pier, two of them 
resting on Fish Island, thence to Tibbit's or Green 
Island, and then assumes a direction to the north four 
and a half miles, passing over the delta and three 
branches of the Mohawk on bridges resting on sub- 
stantial abutments of stone to Waterford; thence fol- 
lowing side by side with the canal and the Hudson 
River for eight miles to Mechanicsville, a village of a 
few mills, and 60 dwellings ; then crossing the canal, 
turns to the north-west up the valley, and past Round 
Lake in four miles, and in six miles from this, a creek, 
and for two miles it runs in close proximity to the Sar- 
atoga and Schenectady Railroad, and enters Ballston 
Spa, and there uniting with the other road* both trains 
pass on to Saratoga, after a few minutes halt to dis- 
charge those passengers desirous of remaining at Balls- 
ton for a few days to test the exhilarating qualities 
of its famous medicinal waters, and enjoy the fashiona- 
ble society at the Sans Souci and the other hotels. 
Twenty-four miles from Troy, seven from Saratoga, 30 
from Albany. 

There are three churches, a reading room, a court- 
house, a jail, a six story brick building intended for a 
cotton factory, several mills, six hotels and stores, 180 



168 Tlie Stimpson Farm — Ballston Springs. 

houses, and 1,100 inhabitants. It is situated in a vale, 
and a small creek winds its way through the centre, 
and has a succession of cascades, where art has added 
to the picturesque effect. 

The price of board is from three to eight or ten dol- 
lars a week. As there are two post offices in the town, 
travellers must be careful to have their letters and pa- 
pers sent to Ballston Spa. 

The Stimpson Farm in Galway, of 1,000 acres, is on 
a spur of a mountain 10 miles northwest of the Spa in 
Ballston ; and as boarders are received by the proprie- 
tor, and the farm is celebrated as a pattern, and is 
withal situated in a position overlooking a large extent 
of country, a visit to it, in making a circuit through 
the neighbourhood, is recommended. 

By his method, four tons of hay and 100 bushels of 
corn to the acre have been realized. 

Galway Corners has two churches, four stores, 40 
dwellings, and two public houses. West Galway, three 
miles further, has 20 dwellings, and a meeting-house 
for Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians. 

A ride on the plains between the Green and Mayfield 
Mountains, is a favourite excursion with strangers. 

The Sans Souci is the most prominent building in 
this village, and is of wood, with a front of 160 feet, 
and wings of 150 feet, and three stories high ; that, 
with its broad piazzas, and court-yard tastefully embel- 
lished with trees and shrubbery, its neat lawns, clean 
and well kept gardens and grounds, makes an agree- 
able impression on the traveller as the train takes a 
sweep through the village, crosses the Kyaderasseras, 
and he alights at this splendid hotel. 

The spring in the rear of the hotel, and that in the 
rear of the village hotel, and the original spring at the 
west of the village, contain, as essential ingredients, 
the carbonates of soda, of lime, iron, and magnesia ; 
the tonic qualities of the iron, and the sparkling and en- 
livening influence of the fixed air that they possess in 



Ballston Lake. 169 

an extraordinary degree, have a wonderful effect upon 
enervated, bilious, and debilitated constitutions. 

Such is the salutary effect of these waters upon some, 
that an annual resort to them in summer is indispensa- 
ble ; but to strangers, prudence would dictate that the 
advice of a resident physician should always be ob- 
tained, as to the quantity and mode of taking them. 

Ballston, or Long Lake, is five miles south of the Spa, 
and is a fine body of pure water, five miles in extent 
north and south, and one wide, and yields good sport to 
the votaries of old Isaac Walton ; and the same may 
be said of other lakes in this county and vicinity, such 
as Saratoga, Round and Owl Lakes ; the former is nine 
miles long by three wide, six south of Saratoga and six 
east of Ballston Spa ; and at the taverns on the west 
shore of the lake are good accommodations, and the ne- 
cessary equipments for fishing, fowling, or sailing. The 
border of the Saratoga Lake is marshy and accessible 
but in few places, but soon rises into elevated ridges 
amphitheatrically, with some cultivation. Snake hill 
on the east shore is 200 feet high, and intrudes into the 
lake three miles from the south end. The argillaceous 
and graywack slate composing its rock strata is re- 
markably contorted. The lake is supplied by the Ky- 
aderasseras Creek that heads in the mountains a few 
miles to the north-west, its outlet is Fish Creek, that 
join the Hudson at Schuylerville eight miles east. 

As the cars lleave Ballston for Saratoga, the road 
curves to the north through the principal street over a 
bridge and an embankment, and then strikes off to the 
north-east over the creek, which course it continues to 
Saratoga. The line of this road of 21| miles, passing 
the Ballston Lake as above described, is over a country 
so level as not to require an inclination of over 16 feet 
per mile ; its cost, from its cheap construction, being 
only $300,000, with engine, cars, &c. ; the sills of wood 
with iron plates. 



15 



170 Saratoga Springs — Congress Hall — Pavillion. 



Saratoga Springs, 

that are now so easily reached by railroad from Albany 
or Troy, are situated on a broad street, on which are 
the principal hotels, five churches and 250 dwellings. 
The hotels in most repute are the United States, an 
edifice of brick, 200 feet by 36, four stories high, with 
a wing of 60 feet on the north and three stories high, 
and another on the south of 100 feet by 50, with com- 
modious parlours and bedrooms for families. The grand 
piazza in front extends and connects with that on the 
south and rear, and the ground and garden is most 
tastefully and pleasingly laid out, and admirably well 
kept, clean and attractive ; the house can receive 300^ 
and the dining and drawing rooms are capacious and 
elegant. There are about five acres attached to this 
establishment, with extensive stables, &c. The house 
is kept by Seaman and Marvin. 

The Congress Hall is of wood, 200 feet in front and 
three stories high, with an attic, and has a wing of 60 
and one of 100 feet. But the most striking and effec- 
tive feature in this spacious edifice, and in the entire 
village street, is the ample piazza in front, and its pil- 
lars of wood entwined with evergreens in the happiest 
manner, with a flower garden in front of the colonnade, 
separated from the street by a neat railing. A pine 
grove and a garden in the rear are enjoyed from the 
back piazza. It is the nearest to the Congress Spring, 
the fountain of health, and has a gravel walk and 
shade trees leading thereto. 

The Pavillion has a front of 136 feet, and a wing of 
80, and one of 200 feet. The spring near is the most 
exuberant and delightful, spouting from a depth of 40 
feet ; yielding an excess of carbonic acid gas, soda, 
potash, and magnesia, with stirring, pungent, eructating- 
drastic effect. 



BALI* STOW K SA 
CITY of ALBANY, 




Union Hall — Columbian Hall, etc. 171 

Union Hall, the American, and AdeJphi, opposite 
the Congress, and the Columbian, south of the Pavil- 
iion, and the gardens attached, are ample and pleasant, 
and moderate in their charges. 

The Washington Hall, a retired House in the north 
part of the street, free from noise and dissipation. 
Boarding may be had from four to twelve dollars per 
week. 

Prospect Hall, one mile north-west, and Highland 
Hall, half a mile south of the Congress, may be re- 
sorted to in case of need. 

The healing virtues of these waters to invalids was 
unfolded by the aborigines to their friend and patron, 
Sir William Johnson, i: a i 1767, when he was borne to 
the spring on a litter ; but by the use of the waters a 
few weeks, he was reinstated in health. At that time, 
bears, deer, wolves, and moose abounded, beaver and 
salmon trout sported in the stream, and the huts of the 
Indians were scattered in the valley. 

In 1783, Gen. P. Schuyler came from Fish Creek and 
spent several weeks under a tent with his family, near 
the High Rock Spring, and in 1789 G. Putnam came 
in, and with him and his descendants, and other settlers 
of that day, began the permanent settlement and im- 
provements that have continued to the present time. 

The High Rock Spring, rising as it does in a circu- 
lar aperture to a certain height in the interior of a dome- 
shaped rock, elevated several feet above the surround- 
ing level, would in any part of the world be viewed as 
a remarkable curiosity ; but when accompanied as it is 
by the emission of such a quantity of fixed air, the deadly 
carbonic acid gas of the laboratory of nature, with the 
mysterious and alarming effect upon animal life that it 
exhibits, great indeed must have been the astonish- 
ment of the early discoverers. 

Even now its "grotto del cane," unseen cause, though 
understood and explained, is to the uninitiated a gap- 



172 Congress Spring. 

ing wonder, that will attract for ever thousands of pil- 
grims and worshippers. 

In 1792, Mr. Gillman, a member of Congress, discov- 
ered the spring that bears that name, issuing from an 
aperture in the side of a rock that bordered the little 
brook that rises from the earth 50 rods west, and for sev- 
eral years it could only be collected in small quantities 
as it came from the rock, only to tantalize the eager and 
thirsty recipient. Attempts were made to excavate and 
search for its source, and for a time it was lost, and the 
goose that has since returned and placed its golden egg 
beneath, fled for a time from the eager and prying cu- 
riosity of man ; but the sagacious Putnam, observing, 
after a lapse of events, signs of gas rising through the 
water of the brook, turned the stream aside, and by 
digging eight feet through marl and gravel, recovered 
the sacred fountain, placed a tube of plank ten inches 
square rising to the surface, from whence flows the 
precious fluid in abundance — one gallon per minute — 
and can be increased by lessening the pressure in the 
curb. The temperature is 50° Fahrenheit. The ana- 
lysis of Dr. Steel gives, in a gallon of 231 inches of wa- 
ter, chloride of sodium or sea salt, 385 grains ; hydrio- 
date of soda, 3.5 ; bicarbonate of soda, 8.982 ; bicarbon- 
ate of magnesia, 35.788 ; carbonate of lime, 98.098 ; 
carbonate of iron, 5.075; silex, 1.5; total, 597.943 
grains ; and of carbonic acid gas, 311; atmospheric 
air, seven ; total, 318 cubic inches. 

The gas affects respiration near the surface of the 
fountain, and fish and frogs when immersed in the water 
perish. The water is used in a fresh gaseous state in 
making bread, or in preparing hot cakes, in which sour 
cream is a component, and forms an expeditious and 
palatable article. When first brought up from the 
tubes it is limpid and sparkling, but soon has a pellicle 
and sediment, and the glass has a stain. Four to six 
half-pints in the morning before breakfast operate as a 



Columbian, Washington, \Hamilton Springs. 173 

cathartic and diuretic, and give increased appetite and 
vigour. 

There are 18 other springs that are all of nearly the 
same properties, and rise in the same valley, viz : the 
Columbian Springs, the Washington, the Hamilton, the 
Flat Rock, and the High Rock, the President, 30 rods 
north, the Red Spring, 70 rods north-east ; the Barrel, 
the VValton, the Monroe, the Ten Springs, one mile 
east ; Ellis', two miies south-west, issues horizontally, 
sparkling, clear, acidulous, and chalybiate, and is es- 
teemed for its iron; its temparature is 48°. The third 
in the list is in the rear of Congress Hall, and the next 
in the rear of the Pavillion, 100 rods north-east, under a 
small Chinese temple over the well, that is 15 feet deep, 
and curbed. The High Rock is 100 rods further north, 
and is composed of lime, magnesia, and oxide of iron, 
sand and clay; its height, four feet; circumference at 
base, 26 feet 8 inches ; a line over the top from north 
to south, 11 feet 7 inches ; and from east to west, 10 
feet nine inches ; from the top of the rock to the surface 
of the water, two feet four inches ; depth of water, 
seven feet six inches ; diameter of opening at top, 10 
inches ; and from this sky-light opening a person may 
look into the interior formation of the dome, from 
whence, no doubt, the water formerly issued and de- 
posited its sediment equally around in this tuffa for- 
mation. 

Bathing houses may be found at the Washington, 
Hamilton, Putnam, and Monroe Springs. The enor- 
mous quantity of fixed air that is contained in the water 
of the Pavillion and Congress, to the sum of more than 
its bulk, cannot be equalled by any others in the world, 
and to this it is indebted for its celebrity. 

The amusements that a sojourner at Saratoga may 
enjoy, besides the rides to the lakes and falls within a 
few miles, and the regular balls and evening parties at 
the various hotels, consist in a subscription to the ex- 
cellent library and reading room on the block north of 
15* 



174 Sacondaga River — Lakes, etc. 

the United States Hotel. The library is possessed of 
several thousand volumes, and the reading-room sup- 
plied with 100 papers, periodicals, &c, and a register 
kept of the arrivals and departures of the vast con- 
course of strangers that throng this place in the sultry 
months of June, July, and August. 

Mails from Boston, New-York, Philadelphia, Albany, 
arrive with great punctuality, and are closed daily at 
nine, A. M. The same caution should be used here as 
at Ballston Spa, in having letters and papers directed to 
Saratoga Springs, otherwise they go to, and remain at 
the other Saratoga Post-Office, 12 miles distant. 

The direct distance to Sandy Hill is 14^ miles, or to 
Glenn's Falls on the Hudson 11 miles in a northeast 
direction, and to those desirous of viewing the splendid 
falls, Hadley's, Jessup's, Glenn's, and Baker's, that the 
pencil of Wall has sketched in the Hudson River Port- 
folio, it is suggested to those intending to continue on to 
the north to Lakes George and Champlain, Montreal and 
Quebec, that by hiring a coach at Saratoga it will be 
but a slight variation from their route, to proceed in the 
first place to the upper falls in the town of Luzerne, 
about 13 miles from Saratoga, past Jessup's Landing to 
the junction of the Sacondaga with the Hudson at Jes- 
sup's Falls, and then crossing the Hudson at Jessup's 
Landing near and above Hadley's Falls, and continuing 
on to Glenn's at the intersection of the road from the 
south to Lake George, and taking the best conveyances 
at Sandy Hill, the railroad cars, or stages, to Whitehall 
22 miles, and the steamboat down the lake to St. John':, 
Canada, 122 miles ; or else go from Sandy Hill or 
Glenn's Falls to Caldwell, at the head of Lake George, 
and by steamboat 36 miles to Alexandria, and ride to 
Ticonderoga, enjoying the ravishing scenes, that are un- 
folded to the eye of the delighted tourist on the lake, the 
very beau ideal of all that is picturesque and beautiful, 
and replete with scenes of the greatest historical inter- 
est to the well-read American citizen and patriot. 

The Sacondaga branch of the Hudson River is about 



Lake Pleasant — Stillwater. 175 

80 miles long. Its sources are in an elevated mountain 
region, embosoming a system of lakes, the Piseker, the 
Oxbow, Round, and Pleasant Lakes, that may be reach- 
ed by following up the Sacondaga valley from the fish- 
house in Broadalbin, and up to Lake Pleasant, the Long 
Lakes, and others in the wild central regions of Hamil- 
ton county, itself worthy of a distinct exploration on 
foot, and of a detailed description ; the other branches 
of the Hudson will be alluded to hereafter. 

Leaving Saratoga, and taking the road that leads east 
and crosses Fish Creek, the outlet of Saratoga Lake, 
we arrive in 8 miles at its junction with the Hudson, 
and on the arena where was enacted some of the most 
important events in the drama of the revolution ; and we 
diverge in part from the regular route, to trace back 
the chain of military results that transpired in this 
vicinity. 

An overwhelming British force under General Bur- 
goyne had succeeded in penetrating from Canada into 
the heart of the State of New- York in powerful array, 
carrying in their progress the strong works at Crown 
Point and Ticonderoga, and arriving at Whitehall, the 
southern termination of Lake Champlain, flushed with 
victory, began to form a road through the wilderness to 
Fort Ann, and traces of it yet remain, and from thence 
advanced down the Hudson valley, driving all before 
them, to Stillwater, at which place a severe action oc- 
curred on the 17th September, 1777, that broke the 
charm of invincibility, and caused the enemy to retrace 
their steps but the clustering; and gathering of the re- 
gular troops and militia hemmed in and prevented the 
advance and retreat of the gallant foe, and finally caused 
a capitulation on the 17th October. 

On this field the traveller may look down upon, from 
the hotel, it being the meadow on the margin of the 
Hudson and Fish Creek, where are distinct remains of 
Forts Hardy and Schuyler, the latter being a furlong 
to the southeast, overlooking the river and creek, the 
northern or Champlain Canal being adjacent, and the 



176 Stillwater — Bemis' Heights. 

residence of the Schuyler family and the owner of the 
cotton factory, and the village known as Schuylerville. 

At Stillwater and on Semis' Heights, two miles west 
of the river, was the fierce and sanguinary struggle be- 
tween the British forces and the Americans, that on the 
19th September, and 7th October decided the fate not 
only of the defeated army at that time, but, by its moral 
effect and animation, led, perhaps, to a succession of 
triumphs, and the establishment of the independence of 
a great nation, which in its future results and influ- 
ences will be extensive as the civilized world. 

The right wing of the British army, consisting of 
light troops, kept along or near the summit of the ridge 
as they advanced to the south, and commanded and 
overlooked the plain beneath, while the heavy artillery 
and baggage continued by the road that runs near to 
and parallel with the river ; while the Americans ad- 
vancing to the north to meet them, had their right wing 
and guns on the river road, and their left wing and skir- 
mishers and riflemen on the heights, and this was the 
respective position of the armies when the onset com- 
menced. 

Much of the battle-ground was interspersed with 
trees, of which but a few are living, but there was also 
some more open grounds, and such was the aspect of 
the spot designated as Freeman'' s farm in the despatches 
of that day, and such it remains, as also does a trace 
of the British encampment. The road extends across 
the farm from east to west at right' angles to the main 
road north and south; and just to the east of this inter- 
section was the hottest of the fight, and a few rods 
south of a blacksmith's shop close to a fence, General 
Frazer, the second in command, fell by a lifle shot from 
one of Morgan's corps. The head quarters of General 
Gates are seen half a mile south. 

The pathetic scenes that took place amid the wounded 
and dying, and that have been so feelingly and graphi- 
cally depicted by the dramatic and gentlemanly pen of 
Burgoyne, and the female tenderness of the Baroness. 



Fort Edward. 177 

Reidesdel, occurred in a dilapidated antiquated dwel- 
ling, painted red and yellow, with the entrance and end 
facing the river, it having been removed from its ori- 
ginal position that was a quarter of a mile southwest. 

Nearly all the river hills west of the Hudson from 
Bemis' Heights to Fort Miller, 12 miles, have some 
remains of the hasty ramparts thrown up by the con- 
tending armies ; and there are also some above and on 
the east of the river, that may be seen from the canal 
and stage road. 

A mile and a half above Schuylerville, the Batten- 
kill comes in to the Hudson from the east, its sources 
being at the base of the Green Mountains in Vermont 
20 miles distant, and also a portion from the Big Pond 
in Argyle ; it has a rapid current and several falls, and 
one three miles from its mouth of 60 feet, that in fresh- 
ets is worth beholding. There is a bridge over the 
stream near its mouth, and one over the Hudson from 
Northumberland to Greenwich, near the rapids or Sara- 
toga Falls, 3 miles below Fort Miller. 

At Fort Miller is a church, a mill, a tavern, store, and 
30 dwellings ; and hereabouts it was that General Bur- 
goyne passed his troops over to the west side as he was 
forcing his way down to the south, to reach New-York 
or Albany. 

At Fort Edioard, near the great bend of the Hudson 
as it crosses over Glenn's and Baker's Falls, are three 
locks on the canal of 10 feet each, and the ruins of the 
fort built in 1755, by Gen. Lyman and Johnson, at the 
old landing or carrying plaee to Wood Creek. The 
walls were formerly 30 feet high, and defended by can- 
non, with a deep fosse in front, and in the French war 
was a post of importance as the medium and connecting 
link with Lake George, and here Burgoyne and his army 
waited six weeks for provisions to come on from the 
lake in his rear, and thus lost the best part of the sea- 
son for his military operations. 

The former seat of war and watchfulness is now 
changed to a peaceful and pleasant plain, fair and fer- 



178 Baker's Falls — Bandy Hill 

tile, with 100 dwellings, a church, 2 hotels, a tavern, 9 
stores, 3 mills, a distillery, and 2 breweries. 

The great dam above the village and ruins of the old 
fortification is 27 feet high and 900 feet across the river, 
and throws an ample supply of water into the feeder of 
the canal, besides forming a cascade, from its height 
and width, of considerable magnificence. 

Below the dam is an island and two bridges of 500 
feet each. The village is supplied with water from a 
fine spring on the hill a quarter of a mile east, near the 
fatal spot that witnessed the tragical death of Miss 
M'Crea in 1777, who was here murdered by the two 
savages that had been employed by her lover to take 
her to a place of safety, and quarrelled about the pro- 
mised reward, and in their fury she fell a sacrifice. 

Above the dam, the canal extends twenty-one miles 
northeast to Lake Chaimplain, at Whitehall, its sum- 
mit level being only 51 feet above the Hudson, and 30 
above Lake Champlain, and 127 feet below Lake George. 

Baker's Falls commence at the bend of the river 
where it winds around to the south in a deep ravine in 
the rock of limestone, the descent being 76 feet in 60 
rods, the water rushing with great fury in and through 
numerous serpentine channels and deep excavations 
that it has bored and worn into the rock, but having no 
perpendicular fall, but a variety of chutes, that are ex- 
ceedingly varied and imposing at particular stages of the 
water, as influenced by the seasons, and may be advan- 
tageously viewed from a projecting rock on the east 
shore below the mills. 

Sandy Hill, where a railroad from Saratoga to 
Whitehall spans the Hudson on a viaduct of 1,100 
feet long, is a half shire village of 110 dwellings on 
a high sandy plain adjacent to Baker's Falls, and is a 
pleasant and healthy site, has a Presbyterian and Epis- 
copal church; there are seven mills, two good ho- 
tels, two furnaces, ten stores. The streets are ar- 
ranged upon a triangular plat, having an open, orna- 



Glenn's Falls. 179 

merited and neat enclosed area, with elegant and com- 
fortable houses and the county buildings, the courts be- 
ing held alternately here and at Salem. From this 
place to Glenn's Falls, three miles west, is a road on the 
high bank of the river, so level, beautiful, and pleasant, 
that few can exceed it, both villages being in sight. 

Glenn's Falls are next encountered ; the village has 
130 dwellings, 2 churches, 1 hotel and 3 taverns, 8stp_res 
and groceries, 31 mechanics' shops, a printing office 
and paper, 6 lime-kilns, 11 mills, some for sawing the 
black and variegated marble, that is here found, into 
slabs, and others for lumber and shingles : the marble 
quarries are extensive, and the price is 75 cents the su- 
perficial foot in New- York. The falls have a total de- 
scent of 70 feet, at first in one angular mass of 900 feet 
wide and 5 feet fall, the whole width of the river, that, 
when in full flood, descends with grandeur, tumult, and 
foaming rage, that excites awe and admiration in the 
beholder, as it is contemplated from the bridge in pass- 
ing. At a low stage of the water the scene is remark- 
ably changed, and could hardly be recognised as it 
plunges into the crevices, caves and sinuosities of the 
dark and irregularly formed rock, and again issues forth 
in jets and boiling or whirling forms, ©r glides with ra- 
pidity over slopes worn to a polished surface by the 
abrasion of the waters. The general face and aspect of 
the fall is lo the east, and after it shoots under the 
bridge and partly through caves and water- worn exca- 
vations under the traveller's feet, and in seams of hori- 
zontal secondary limestone, well worth exploration as 
the source and scene of legends and frightful Indian 
tales, the water extricates itself from its iabyrinthine 
concealments in the dark and massive rocks, and is re- 
ceived into the bed of the river below, under the frown- 
ing face of impending lowering precipices, and escapes 
over a series of rapids that has caused a wide, vast, and 
deep gorge in the rocky hills almost as regular as an 
artificial rut in the solid roc posing the stratifi- 



180 Jessup's and Hadley's Falls. 

cation to the easy examination of the geologist, and the 
triJobites and organic remains are seen in perfection. 

A feeder and a branch canal 7 miles long, extends 
from the Hudson 2 miles above Glenn's, where is a dam 
across the Hudson of 12 feet high and 770 feet long, 
that fills the canal as it passes through Glennsville, and 
Sandy Hill, and feeds the Champlam Canal, which it 
enters in Kingsbury, 2 miles above Fort Edward, where 
there are many locks. 

Jessup's and Hadley's Falls are the next distinguish- 
ed objects to attract the attention of the traveller devo- 
ted to the admiration of the picturesque and beautiful 
in nature. The first is ten miles beyond Glenn's Falls, 
and the second occurs within the next 5 miles, and may 
be conveniently examined by starting in the morning 
either from Sandy Hill or Saratoga, and returning the 
same day, with ample time to spend a few hours at 
either spot. As the country in that direction is rather 
wild and unsettled, it may be advisable to make provi- 
sion for a rural fete champetre to enliven the party. 

The first fall exhibits the entire volume of the Hud- 
son in one grand cataract of 100 feet ; the next it is seen 
leaping through the rocky gates of the mountains, that 
appear to have been cloven to admit its passage ; and 
to a person viewing it from below, it appears to come 
bounding down the jagged, irregular, gigantic barriers 
with irrepressible fury, and a magnificence and variety 
endless, bewitching, and indescribable. 

The road from Luzerne or Glenn's Falls to Lake 
George is a yellow pine plain, soil sandy, rather barren, 
and destitute of interest until we approach within three 
miles of the head of the lake, before overtopping the 
rising ground seen in front, where the road passes by a 
crater-like or bowl-shaped pond on the east, in close 
proximity, deep, dark, and dismal, its unruffled surface 
covered with the pond-lily, and its depths lined with 
the bones of the soldiers that perished in the conflicts 
on its borders, and that were here thrown in, and ever 
since called the Bloody Pond. 



Lake George. 181 

In proceeding from Fort Edward to Lake George and 
Champlain, we pass in review ground consecrated in 
history, not only by the war of our independence and 
American revolution,- but also in those murderous affairs 
and sanguinary conflicts of previous years, when the 
hordes of French troops issuing from Canada, aided by 
infuriate savage demons, carried terror and destruction 
along the whole northern frontiers. 

It is our purpose to describe first the events and the 
scenery connected with Lake George and Ticonderoga, 
and then to give the canal and railroad route from San- 
dy Hill to White Hall, and down the lake to intersect 
the other route, and pass along its surface and by its 
shores to Canada. 

The traveller, while musing on the scenes that have 
been enacted on this border within 80 years past, amid 
the gloomy forest through which he proceeds for two 
or three miles, arrives at the crown of a long and tedious 
ascent, through the vista of mountains that have ac- 
companied his progress for several miies ; those on the 
east being elevated, and in some places denuded of veg- 
etation ; those on the west being more depressed, but 
clothed with the remains of the native forest ; when at 
the precise and most advantageous pinnacle the curtain 
of the forest is withdrawn, and the cleared spot unfolds 
to the astonished and enraptured gaze of the tourist the 
full and glorious scene. 

The Lake is expanded beneath his view to more than 
half its extent, with a beauty and lustre emanating from 
its surface of a transparent cerulean hue that fills the 
mind with rapture ; the first glance and the deep im- 
pression can never be obliterated from the imagination 
of the ardent and sensitive traveller : the splendid frame- 
work of mountains that encloses the lake and its beau- 
tiful islands, and that forms a back ground of extreme 
beauty and finished excellence, the noble promontory 
that it puts forth on the north, of 1,500 feet high, and 
seen at 14 miles distance, with the softened hue that 
harmonises with the receding perspective, terminated 



182 Caldwell — Natural Bridge. 

on each side by the deep bays or prongs that gird, on 
the northwest and northeast in diverging lines, the 
base of this noble headland or promontory, is the com- 
plete realization of eager expectations of all that is 
exquisite in lake scenery. 

Lake George, or Sacrament, as it was termed by the 
French, from the unrivalled and admirable clearness 
and purity of its waters, that induced them to use it for 
religious purposes, baptism, &c, is 34 miles long and 
from one to four broad, (average, perhaps about two,) 
for 20 miles, is, more or less, from the promontory re- 
ferred to, ornamented with an archipelago of islands of 
the most fanciful, varied, and lovely forms, that leaves 
no taste ungratified. 

Caldwell — the village at the head of the lake at its 
southwest corner, with its spacious hotel, capable of 
receiving 100 or more tourists ; has about 40 dwellings 
and 500 inhabitants, the county buildings, clerk's office, 
jail and court house. 

A road from the south passes through Caldwell to 
the northwest, and in 6 miles crosses the Hudson River 
and continues on 10 miles to Chester, a village of 150 
dwellings and 2 churches, with mills, and on the outlet 
of Friend's Lake 2 miles long ; from this a road branch- 
es off northwest to Ogdensburgh, on the St. Lawrence, 
and another north past Scroon Lake, and on the west 
side of Lake Champlain to Plattsburgh, and is the 
nearest and best land route to Montreal and Quebec, and 
attracts considerable travel and business in this direction. 
Scroon Lake is 8 miles long northeast to southwest, 
and from half to two and a half miles wide, embosomed 
in lofty mountains Brant or Loon Lake is five miles 
long, one wide, and is southeast of Scroon Lake. 

The Natural Bridge, a mile or two above the outlet 
of Scroon Lake, may be visited at the same time, with 
the wild romantic shores of the various lakes in its 
vicinity. A stream, named Trout Creek, a few rods 
above the bridge, tumbles over a precipice into an ex- 
cavation ; there a branch runs east and forms divided 



Battles near Lake George. 183 

channels, one being under an arch of granite 40 feet 
high and 80 feet wide, that may be followed 160 feet, 
the other and principal one, more difficult of exploration, 
opens into dark and cavernous recesses, with deep pools 
of water, and at 250 feet from its beginning the united 
currents emerge to light below a precipice of 56 feet, 
and an arch of 5 feet high and 10 wide. 

In 1755 to 1759, when the x\meriean Colonies were 
involved in the contest between Great Britain and 
Prance, the theatre of operations shone forth on Lake 
George, that then exhibited armaments and a more 
glittering array of foreign troops than had ever before 
occurred, or it is destined ever again to witness ; and 
that the sweet repose that now prevails on this lake 
should ever have been disturbed by the din, tumult and 
complicated horrors of a war growing out of the hatred, 
feuds and jealousies of distant nations, that sent their 
warriors hither to enact those feats of arms, and fulfil 
the bloody, cruel mandates of distant rulers and poten- 
tates, appears now to have been as unnatural as it was 
surprising. 

The first conflicts took place south of the head of 
Lake George, where a body of English and colonial 
troops had been assembled in September, 1755, under 
the command of General, afterwards Sir William John- 
son, a man that had a spurious, unfounded reputation, 
and was saved from defeat and disgrace by the brave 
Genera] Lyman, of Massachusetts, the second in com- 
mand. 

Johnson lay carelessly encamped, but unfortified, in 
open field on the hills near the site of Fort M'Henry, 
a little south of the present village of Caldwell ; when 
Gen. the Baron Dieskau, who had recently arrived from 
France, advanced from Montreal up Lake Champlain, 
passed Fort Frederic, or Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, 
and boldly up to Skenesboro', now Whitehall, and 
landed, and marched towards Fort Edward, then called 
Fort Lyman, on the Hudson, then in an incomplete 
state and without cannon, as he had been truly in- 



184 Battles near Lake George. 

formed by one of his scouts ; but after proceeding a 
few miles and near Fort Anne, he suddenly altered 
his plan, and directed his column towards Lake 
George to surprise Johnson and his army, and was 
only foiled in this manoeuvre by a timely and chance 
discovery of his change of the line of march that 
reached Johnson, who up to this hour had not been 
aware of the vicinity of an enemy under such a gallant 
and chivalric commander, and then began in great haste 
and terror to throw up entrenchments around his camp, 
that was injudiciously placed too low, and overlooked 
and commanded by neighbouring eminences ; he also 
despatched 1,200 troops under Col. Ephraim Williams, 
to advance and meet Dieskau and his forces, who being 
aware by his spies of Williams' approach, arranged his 
men on both sides of the road in a crescent form, ex- 
tending his wings into the woods so as to enclose his 
unsuspecting opponents. 

The Americans struck at the centre of the French line 
with unflinching boldness and intrepidity, but they out- 
flanked and closed in upon Williams' detachment, and 
poured in a murderous fire both on his front and rear at the 
same moment, that killed Colonel Williams and Hen- 
drick the brave Mohawk Indian chieftain* The de- 
tachment, after the death of Williams, was drawn off to 
the main body by Col. Whiting in good order, followed 
by the French and Indians to the lines of Johnson's en- 
campment, where the troops recovered from their panic, 
rallied within the hasty entrenchments, and the battle 
commenced anew, and lasted several hours, when the 
French and Indians were driven in their turn and pur- 
sued and scattered, and Dieskau badly wounded and 
taken prisoner, and the baggage and amunition captured. 
This action was in the environs of the Bloody Pond be- 

* Hendrick was shot in the back, to his exceeding mortification and 
chagrin, it being considered dishonourable to be touched in the rear ; 
he was 65 years of age, very corpulent and gray headed ; he had a 
voice of immense power and volume, that when he harrangued his 
people, could be heard amid the hills for miles. 



Battle at Ticonderoga. 185 

fore alluded to, into which the dead bodies were thrown 
— 700 French and 300 English. 

In 1757, the French army of 8,000 men under the 
famous Gen. Montcalm, with thousands of Indians, made a 
formidable invasion up Lake Champlain, and appeared 
before Fort William Henry, and demanded its surrender 
from Colonel Monroe, and was refused, and began the 
siege that lasted six days, the Colonel expecting to be 
momently relieved by Gen. Webb, with 4,000 men at 
Fort Edward, only 15 miles distant, but he not darino- 
to appear, Colonel Monroe, after a brave resistance, was 
forced to capitulate under honourable stipulations, that 
included protection from savage fury ; but this was not 
observed, for out of the garrison of 3,000, 1,500 were 
massacred in cold blood on the 9th of August The 
fort was soon after demolished by the French, as they 
had strong works existing at Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point. 

In 1758, it being desirous to dislodge the French from 

their strong holds at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the 

large force of 10,000 provincials and 7,000 regular troops 

was again concentrated at the head of Lake Georo-e, 

under the command of General Abercrombie, and'on 

the 5th July, leaving only a guard, this formidable force 

was embarked in over a thousand boats, in one of those 

fine summer days when the genial air and the placid 

lake conspired to aid the gorgeous military effect of this 

grand pageant ; the boats were arranged in lines and 

divisions in precise order ; the lion and the cross, the 

"meteor flag of England," was triumphantly exhibited 

to the confident, well-commanded army ; and ail being 

arranged, the signal was given — they advanced uni- 

I formly to the sound of the finest military music, that 

j the re-echoing hills returned with admirable effect from 

the glens and forests, as if the thick woods were peopled 

■ with unseen spirits, startled and affrighted from their 

'deep, romantic, and inaccessible recesses, at the un^ 

wonted and strange sights and sounds that astounded 

1 them. This pomp and splendour continued for several 

16* 



186 Battle at TicorJeroga. 

hours, during the progress down the lake, giving the 
army ample time to look around upon the splendid pano- 
rama that environed them, and at the approaching place 
of debarkation, (at the present landing place,) and at 
the lurking foes they should soon have to encounter. 

They landed and were arranged in four columns, and 
advanced under incompetent guides through crooked 
roads to the northeast and soon fell into some disorder, 
that was increased by meeting the pickets and out-posts 
of the foe that had retreated on the first landing of the 
army, but seeing the confusion that now prevailed in 
the columns, they rallied, and at their first fire Lord 
Howe,* the second in command, fell ; the war-whoop 
began, and after a warm skirmish, in which 300 of the 
foe were killed, and 148 taken prisoners, with trifling 
loss on the English side, the columns retired to the 
landing. 

Taking the precaution the next day to send a force to 
reconnoitre and secure the mill at the outlet of Lake 
George, and to view the enemy and works situated on 
a peninsula, with the lake and outlet nearly environing 
it, and an abattis in part to obstruct the crossing of the 
isthmus, the army advanced heedlessly to the attack, 
without attempting to cannonade the works, as the 
abattis was held in too much contempt ; but on their 
near approach, and complete exposure to the fire of the 
foe, themselves concealed behind the abattis in perfect 
security, and taking unerring, deliberate aim on their 
assailants, the havoc was so great that the English and 
colonial forces gave it up in despair, after a conflict and 
struggle of four hours ; during which the brave High- 
landers three times drove the French from a portion of 
the abattis, but were not supported. 

The loss of the English in this failure was near 2,000 
men ; that of the French, three or four officers and a 
few privates. The latter did not at first intend to make 
but a show of resistance ; but seeing the English so 

* The father of the Lord Howe that commanded here in the Ameri- 
can revolution. 



Fort George. 187 



daring, and exposed to their mercy, they tried to thin 
their ranks, and succeeded. 

The English commander ordered a retreat, though 
he had 14,000 men unharmed, and the French had only 
3,000 ; thus voluntarily adding disgrace to defeat- 
In July, 1759, another British armament of similar 
force, under General Amherst, made its appearance on 
Lake George ; and at its approach the positions of Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point were abandoned by the 
French as untennable, as they doubtless were, as more 
recent events proved, and they abandoned them forever. 
In 1777, when Ticonderoga and Crown Point were 
occupied by the Americans for the last time, as impor- 
tant military posts, they abandoned them when General 
Burgoyne approached ; and since the revolutionary war, 
and our frontier has been so much extended to the north, 
they are looked upon as almost the only relics and ruins 
of any note in this State that are invested with the garb 
of a moderate antiquity and veneration. 

Fort George, at the head of the lake, still presents its 
outline and circular massy wall, and ramparts of stone 20 
feet high, and in good condition, a short distance east from 
those of Fort William Henry, one-fourth mile back from 
the strand ; and here is also the best view of the widest 
part of the lake, and of the northwest bay, and of the 
ranges of mountains for 20 miles, and of several of the 
largest islands and of the head promontory before al- 
luded to, and of the shelving rock that intrudes from 
the east far into the lake, and beyond which the eastern 
arm of the lake turns to the right. 

The passage across the lake by steamboat from Cald- 
well, 36 miles north, fare about $2, is made daily, in 
summer, to gratify tourists and travellers ; that at Ti- 
conderoga can intersect the boat that touches there 
daily, and continue on up or down the lower lake. — 
Those wishing to return to Caldwell the same day, can 
do it by the return of the boat ; but strangers usually 
devote the remainder of the day to Ticonderoga, three 
.miles beyond the landing, and a very agreeable walk 



188 Excursion on Lake George. 

along the outlet and falls of Lake George, estimated at 
a descent of 150 to 300 feet ; the surface of Lake George 
is 243 feet above tide, the greatest depth 60 fathoms ; 
its sources, probably, from the deepest, coldest, and 
purest springs, as it has no rivers of any consequence 
running into it. 

The lake is frozen about 25th December, and remains 
closed usually three and a half or four months, when, 
without sinking, as it does in Lake Champlain, the ice 
gradually dissolves. There is no current, except near 
the outlet, and the shores being rocky or gravelly, the 
water is pure and potable, and has no lime ; the borders 
are the seat of health, and fever and ague is a stranger. 
The melting of the snow in spring only raises the lake 
one or two feet. The prevalent winds are northeast and 
southwest. There are more settlements on the west 
than on the east side of the lake on the slopes, from a 
few rods to a mile wide, reaching up the mountain, that 
will, some future day, be decked out all in terraces and 
villas, for it is impossible that such charming sites 
should be always neglected. 

Deer and bears still abound on the mountains, and 
the depths of the lake with the largest and finest trout, 
bass, and perch, and the lofty cliffs, of the hills and 
crags with eagles and rattlesnakes ; and for these 
Mount Prospect has an especial bad name, that is to be 
regretted, as it is said to command a capital view of 
the lake, and between the dread of one and the love of 
the other, " de gustibus non est disputandem." 

Excursion on JLakc George. 

Every traveller in making an excursion on this lake, 
if he is favoured with a proportion of suitable weather, 
clear and cloudy, fair and foul, to see the changes of 
the scene, the lights and shades, and hear the effect of 
echos from a heavy thunder-storm reverberated from 
the amphitheatre of mountains, will enroll it in the cal- 
endar of his life as one of the most memorable epochs 
of his existence. 



Excursion on Lake George. 189 

On putting out from the village on the broad surface 
of the pellucid crystal waters of the lake, the enjoy- 
ment begins by the contemplation of the surrounding 
panorama, the noble mountains on the east, with their 
deep shadows reflected in the water-mirror at their 
base, the graceful slopes on the west, and the border 
on the south, with the acclivity covered with a fine 
green sward, interspersed with groups of forest trees, 
and a handsome sprinkling of evergreens. The lime- 
worn battlements of Forts George and William Henry, 
half shrouded in moss and shrubbery, are invested with 
a hallowed interest from the associations of the stirring 
events of by-gone days of war and chivalry that those 
walls and the pinnacles of the adjacent mountains have 
witnessed. 

The islands and shores soon come in for a large share 
of the tourist's admiration. The beauty, variety, and 
grace of the curves of the finely wooded margin of the 
lake, with forests and groves rising at various angles, 
or overshadowing and forming natural arbors of the 
many recesses and indentations that are presented in 
endless variety on both shores ; the deep umbrageous 
twilight effect of some masses of trees and underwood, 
is contrasted with the more open and gay lawns and 
groves, that appear prepared for the rural fete or merry 
dance. The smooth slopes and cheerful borders, that 
are already partially occupied by the primitive settlers, 
or their immediate descendants, and that have made 
themselves rudely comfortable and happy in the rough 
log hut or more finished tenement, extend for miles, 
and are followed by promontories encroaching boldly 
into the lake, and forbidding access to the husbandman. 
The points are varied, acute, and angular, gliding into 
rounded and circular, followed by fretted and scallopped 
margins or a beach of bright yellow, or golden, or 
light-coloured sand, displaying the purity and transpa- 
rency of the waters, and tempting the feet of the nymph 
to tread its unsullied margin, or to bathe in its soft, 
and shining, or glistening waters. 



190 Twelve Mile Island. 

The spurs, or angles of the mountains at times in- 
trude far out in the lake, and are covered with the na- 
tive forest; and at others are but long 1 narrow ridges 
stretching horizontally, or with a graceful declination 
to meet the surface of the waters ; or they assume the 
appearance of islands in the looming up of the distant 
perspective. 

After continuing on for ten miles, a bare spot, denu- 
ded of its forest and shrubbery, is observed, where the 
hunters are in the habit, annually, of setting fire to the 
last year's dry grass, to admit of the new growth of the 
spring to come forth, and tempt the deer from their 
haunts, that soon after are seen to frequent it in herds, 
when the noisy yelping of the hounds, and the sharp 
crack of the rifles, are heard echoing and faintly re- 
sponding from amid the distant hills. These fires some- 
times range uncontrolled in the forest, and have a sad 
and destructive influence on the landscape, but at night 
the effect of one of these conflagrations is truly sublime. 

Twelve Mile Island, so called from its computed dis- 
tance from the head of the lake, is 35 feet in elevation, 
contains over 20 acres, and is very near the centre of 
the lake, and of a circular form, and only requires to be 
preserved in all its pristine beauty. 

Beyond this round island, the lake in one mile divides 
into two prongs, that to the left being the northwest 
bay, six miles long, and the other northeast bay leading 
to the outlet and landing ; between the two prongs rises 
the noble headland or promontory of Tongue Mountain 
to a height of 1,400 feet, that abuts boldly forth, and 
lords it over the opposite heights, and looks down upon 
the lake that at its base has a depth of several hundred 
feet, and upon the clustering islands that here begin 
and form the narrows, for six or seven miles. The 
mountain can be ascended from the rear, but at great 
risk of reptiles, and being bewildered in the forest ; but 
the view from the summit is surpassingly beautiful. 

The Fairy Group of Islands now thicken as we pro- 
ceed, and assume infinite variety in shape and feature ; 



Fairy Group of Islands. 191 

some being in groups, or families, of five to twenty or 
thirty, or twin-like, or in solitary beauties, standing out 
for admiration, or more coyly retiring from the public 
gaze, and requiring to be sought out from the conceal- 
ments of the labyrinth, ever changing, ever new, to the 
enchanted beholder, that delights to repeat his explora- 
tions as he discovers new beauties at every repetition 
of his visit as he lingers among these embowered Bor- 
romean isles. 

There are such an infinity of forms of beauty in their 
figure and dimensions, that nature appears, as it is in 
truth, inexhaustible in resources ; some are mere islets 
or naked rocks, in contrast with tufted and brilliant 
verdant spots, of a few feet to a furlong or a mile in 
length ; the vegetation of some is scanty, but in most 
it is perfect ; some have but a tree or two, or are 
decorated with a feathery group, inclining like the prin- 
ces gracefully towards the surrounding margin ; some 
are dense with forest or shrubbery, others admit of 
winding paths beneath o'ertopping trees, shaded from 
the noon-day sun, and free from undergrowth ; others, 
as the boat insinuates and glides too rapidly past long 
and narrow islands, presents, for a moment, apertures 
that disclose the near or more distant mountains, or a 
glimpse of sky, or of objects and forms beautiful, evan- 
escent, and magically changing as they are approached 
but to be admired and lost in the rapid transition. 

The pine, with its tall trunk peering above all com- 
petitors, waving loftily and nobly in the sky, occupies 
many such positions ; while on other islands the maple, 
the beech, or the oak, in liveliest verdure, and in the 
wild luxuriance of native vigour have uncontrolled 
dominion, or are seen in various stages of decay, or 
scathed or splintered by lightning. The whole scene 
is doubly enhanced by the unruffled mirror that inverts 
the forms above, of islands, trees, rocks, and winding 
shores in the sky-reflected arch beneath,£depicted with 
the truth and colouring of nature. 

If the admeasurement is correct, Black Mountain tnat 



192 Anthony's Nose. 

is on the east, eighteen miles from Caldwell, is the 
highest crest of any of the range bordering the lake, 
being 2,200 feet high, and in front of it on the west, is 
the half-way house or island ; and here the traveller 
will behold, in the next few miles, the choicest lake 
scenery. 

The mountain has a serrated waving outline of much 
grandeur, and is densely clothed with evergreens, pines, 
and firs. 

On a projection from the west shore, 24 miles from 
the head of the lake, is a prominent point named from 
a party of English having had a conflict with the Indi- 
ans on that day, Sabbath-day Point. The small island, 
called the Scotch Bonnet., is seen in three miles ; and 
in three miles more a cluster of dwellings and mills, 
known as Hague, on the west shore, and here the lake 
attains its utmost width, said to be 4 miles. 

Three miles further the traveller will notice a rock 
200 feet high, descending to the lake at an angle of 25 
degrees, and decidedly more easy of descent than ascent ; 
and the tradition is, that in the war of 1755 to 9, Major 
Rogers, a partizan officer, equal to Putnam in intrepi- 
dity and hatred to the Indians, and being their most 
vindictive enemy and persecutor, found himself, when 
pursued and nearly in their grasp, on the verge of this 
inclined plane at the top of the mountain, down which 
(it being probably covered with snow, as he had his 
snow-shoes on, and had no alternative) he slid, without 
flinching, just as his pursuers were upon him, and left 
them standing aghast and shrinking from following his 
nimble footsteps, and beholding with amazement his 
charmed life, as he appeared in safety at the base of the 
precipice, down which they dared not follow. 

Anthony's Nose, one of those singular nicknames, and 
such a noted and peculiar prominence on the Mohawk, 
and on the profile of a jutting rock and mountain in the 
Highlands of the Hudson, is also found here in opposite 
face to the Roger's Slide ; the precipices are 50 to 100 
feet in elevation,- and the shores contracted amid gigan- 



Ticonderoga. 193 

tic masses of rock. Two miles from the obove is an 
island where the prisoners that were taken from the 
French were put upon the limits, and west of the island 
is the point where the English army under Lord Howe, 
consisting 1 of 16,000 men, were landed and marched to 
the attack of Ticonderoga, as mentioned. 

A huge rock fell from the precipice at Anthony's 
Nose, a few years since, and plunging into the lake, 
came very near demolishing a fisherman and sinking a 
canoe by the surge it created. 

On a rock opposite to this are said to be a series of 
Indian mortars wrought in the solid stone, for pounding 
their corn. Some of them are capable of containing 
half a barrel, and others of smaller size, smooth and 
circular. 

The water of the lake that has, up to this point, been 
of an emerald green, now changes to a muddy colour, 
from the difference in bottom, that is here clay instead 
of rock as above ; and in one mile we are at the termi- 
nation of our Excursion on Lake George, or Horricon, 
as the Indian name is transmitted. Three miles more 
by the rough and winding romantic road before alluded 
to, along the gorge that contains the outlet of the lake 
we have traversed, brings the traveller in sight of Lake 
Champlain, and to the walls of old Ticonderoga. 

The change in scenery when we descend to the lake 
below, is as obvious as that of the water. There are 
three falls in the outlet of the upper lake ; the lowest 
one being 100 feet, with a rapid at the bottom, and in 
spring they exhibit much magnificence ; at other times 
they are small but pleasing cascades. The bottom of 
the upper is about on a level with the surface of the 
lower lake. By following up the creek that comes in 
from the west near where the steamer is left, we come 
to a chain of small lakes near lake Pharaoh, that falls 
into Swan Lake, one of the heads of the northeast 
branch of the Hudson River. 

Flesh-red feldspar in very large plates in granite, 
epidote of bright yellow in loose stones, garnets, black 
17 



194 Ticonderoga. 

tourmaline, and other minerals, are seen on the west 
shore, eight miles from Ticonderoga. Near the latter, 
is plumbago, both massive and disseminated, of pecu- 
liar beauty, in brilliant plates, in a large grained crys- 
talized limestone. 

For 20 miles N. of Tongu Mountain, that is 12 miles 
from the head of the lake, the scenery combines much 
grandeur and richness ; the rocks are primitive, form- 
ing a double barrier. The lake here, usually is near a 
mile wide, but has its bays and coves on either hand ; 
the slopes are clothed with native forest trees. Echos of 
remarkable distinctness may be roused by a good bugle 
or trumpet player, and fortunate is he that can see the 
lake or its most lovely shores in its varied aspects ; 
with a rising or setting sun, gilding the clouds, the 
islands, the hill-tops, or under the sable drapery of 
thunder clouds, or agitated by the tornado or tempest, 
or decked with arches of the spanning rainbow. 

Che-on-der-oga, by the Indian phrase, noise, was by 
the French changed into Ticonderoga, and was also by 
them named Fort Carillon, after its erection in 1756 : 
it cost the French government a large sum of money, 
and was considered to be very strong both by nature 
and art, being surrounded on three sides by water, and 
by a deep swamp on part of the other, and a breastwork 
on the remainder ; but it was subsequently easily re- 
duced by the simple expedient adopted by Burgoyne, 
that had been before strangely overlooked, of hauling a 
piece of artillery up the pinnacle of Mount Defiance 
725 feet high, on the south side of the creek that over- 
looks and entirely commands the fort, and from which 
a shot can with ease be thrown into the midst of the 
works, that had been probably supposed to be too dis- 
tant to be injured in that way; but at the siege of 
Gibraltar shot were thrown 4| miles, and by the French 
at the siege of Cadiz bombs were thrown even six- 
miles, and perhaps more. 

Mount Independence, where some intrenchments are 
yet visible, is on the opposite or east shore of the lake, 



Mount Independence. 195 

distant one mile, with a ferry in the township of Or- 
well, Vermont, is of diminished height, and overlooks 
the peninsula of Ticonderoga, though that land is 110 
feet above the lake, and 196 above tide. Ochre, used 
as pigments in making yellow and red paints, and also 
plumbago or black lead, are found at the base of Mount 
Defiance. The village, at the head of the falls, consist- 
ing of a few houses and mills, is Alexandria ; the one 
at the lower falls, one mile, is Ticonderoga, and has a 
post-office. The peninsula contains about 500 acres. 
The walls and chimneys yet remain, in part, as venera- 
ble ruins of the barracks and fort, as also does the mag- 
azine, 35 feet long, 1 5 wide, and 8 high, of stone, 
arched and forming a complete bomb-proof under earth ; 
there is also a covered way and sally-port forming a 
subterranean passage from the southwest corner of the 
old fort to the lake, the identical passage that Col. 
Ethan Allen, of Vermont, entered in 1775, and surprised 
the commandant in bed before he was aware of his dan- 
ger, and in his characteristic way required the officer 
to surrender. He replied, " To whom V 9 " Why to 
Jehovah and fhe Continental Congress, to be sure," 
was the quaint reply. This was the first fortress cap- 
tured by the Americans in the war of the revolution. 

The remains of another fortification, erected during 
the revolutionary war, are 60 rods south, on a point 
near the lake, and the walls are 60 feet high. 

The most important events, connected with this for- 
tress, by which so many thousands of human beings 
have been wantonly, and rashly, and inhumanly ex- 
posed and sacrificed in the campaign of 1758, under 
General Abercrombie, have been fully detailed in our 
preceding pages. In 1759 the French evacuated this 
post, that they had, with Fort Frederic or Crown Point, 
first endowed with military importance, and had ex- 
pended on both vast treasures of men and money ; that 
they tamely quitted as the powerful armament of Lord 
Amherst approached and took possession, and it so re- 
mained for 16 years, when the American revolution 



196 St. Clair. 

breaking out, it was captured without bloodshed by 
Colonel Allen, as before mentioned, in 1775, and held 
till 1777, when the British army appeared in array be- 
fore it, under the gallant Burgoyne, when St. Clair, the 
American commander was forced to evacuate in his 
turn, and it fell into British possession, and was held 
during the war. 

St. Clair despatched the baggage and stores by a de- 
tachment up the lake to Whitehall, and was followed 
by the British in full pursuit to Fort Anne, where a 
skirmish ensued ; but the forces under St. Clair crossed 
the lake to Mount Independence, and directed their 
march upon Hubberton, Vermont, where Colonel War- 
ner, with 1,000 men, was overtaken and brought to ac- 
tion by the advanced guard of the British, and were 
vanquished and retired to Fort Edward, on the Hudson, 
to unite with General Schuyler. In modern times Ti- 
conderoga and Crown Point are only adverted to as 
having once been an important place in American his- 
tory, a species of " points d'appui," that held the keys 
of the lakes on which the movements of fleets and 
armies must take place. 

After finishing Lake George and Ticonderoga, the 
tourist can take the steamboat at Shoreham, in Ver- 
mont, one mile east of the Ticonderoga, and return to 
the south by the way of Whitehall and the stage route 
through to Troy, or take the cars for Sandy Hill, or 
proceed from Shoreham to Rutland and Windsor, Ver- 
mont, and up or down the charming valley or Connecti- 
cut River, or continue on for the north down Lake 
Champlain to Plattsburgh and St. John's, and thence to 
Montreal and Quebec. The downward steamboat from 
Whitehall usually calls at Shoreham, in the summer, 
before dark, but from Crown Point to Plattsburgh, 46 
miles, the passage is made at night, there not being a 
line of day-boats. The price of passage from White- 
hall to St. John's, 160 miles, is $5. 

We now return back to trace our route from page 



Grisioold's Mills —Comslock — Whitehall 197 

145, where we diverged from the regular route to give 
our readers the popular lake tour. 

Leaving Sandy Hill in the cars or stages, we cross 
the summit level, or height of land between the Hudson 
River and the water running north, and in a short dis- 
tance the northern canal that we met at Fort Ann, the 
village so named, 10 miles from Sandy Hill and 11 
from Whitehall, and on the site of the old fort erected 
in 1756. It contains 60 dwellings, three churches, two 
taverns and stores, and is surrounded by a rolling for- 
ested country ; and two miles south may be seen ves- 
tiges of the military road of logs made in 1777 for the 
transport of the artillery, baggage, and stores of Bur- 
goyne's army to Saratoga. 

GriswoWs Mills is on Half-way Brook, four miles 
west of Fort Ann, and six north of Sandy Hill, and has 
30 dwellings, one grist, one saw-mill, two stores, one 
tavern, several forges for making anchors, a trip-ham- 
mer, a furnace for castings, a pottery, and a woollen 
factory. 

Comstock, a landing on the canal, is four miles north 
from Fort Ann, and is a place of much business, and 
has the trade of the vicinity and east part of Vermont ; 
and several ware-houses, a post-office, tavern, store, 
and ten or twelve dwellings. Canal boats are also 
built here. 

The canal enters Wood Creek, and for six and a half 
miles pursues its channel. There are three locks at 
Fort Ann, fall 24 feet into Wood Creek. In four and a 
half miles are the narrows, and in three more is the dam 
in Wood Creek, to supply the canal to Whitehall, and 
make the creek navigable three miles above to the 
dam-lock ; and in five miles more we arrive at White- 
hall, at the head of Lake Champlain, seventy-three and 
a half miles from Albany, where the canal terminates, 
and has three locks and a fall of 26 feet, and in all from 
summit level 54, to the basin in Lake Champlain, and 
30 to the Hudson at Fort Edward. 

There are pots, or water-worn cavities in the hard 
17 



198 Whitehall. 

gneiss rock at the narrows on Wood Creek, near 50 
feet above its present level, that clearly indicate the 
former existence of a much larger body of water dis- 
charging ^itself north through the depression of Lake 
Champlain ; and as the Hudson, at Sandy Hill, is only 
126 feet above tide at Troy, a surmise exists that this 
current from the Hudson to the St. Lawrence formerly 
obtained, or the dividing ridge may have been upheaved 
by earthquakes. 

Whitehall, formerly Skenesborougb, 73 miles from 
Albany, has 150 dwellings, a bank, many warehouses 
for the commission and forwarding trade, two large ho- 
tels, 20 general stores, and 2,500 inhabitants ; a Pres- 
byterian and a Methodist church, and Societies of Uni- 
versalists, Catholics, and Baptists. It commands the 
steamboat business from the south down the lake, and 
the canal trade, and also that of a considerable region 
around. A steamboat leaves daily during the season 
for St. John's Canada, 150 miles distant, touching at 
the several landings. 

The place has much of the aspect of a port, and there 
are many sloops owned here, canal boats, &c. There 
is not much room for wide-streets, as it is in a defile 
and very restricted. The houses are of the stone that 
is quarried on the spot, and many may be said to rise 
out of cellars on knolls and elevations, and others at the 
edge of the harbour. 

The aboriginal name of this place was Kah-cho-qua- 
na, the place to dip feet, at the foot of the falls near the 
village where the Wood Creek and Pawlet River 
unite. Here may be seen rotting in the mud the use- 
less hulks of the vessels captured by Commodore 
M'Donough from the British, during the last war, in 
the action off Pittsburgh and Cumberland Head. 

The Poultney River that comes in from the north, 
and that has its source in Rutland County, Vermont, at 
the base of the Green Mountains, and in the Lake 
Bombazine, in Castleton, five miles long, in 1783 made 
for itself a new channel by an impetuous rush of water, 



Short Tours mar New- York. 199 

the result of some outbursting of a mountain lake, or of 
a water-spout that forced and cut its way 60 feet deep 
through a ridge, and carrying so large a quantity of 
earth into the east bay, as to choke up for a season, its 
navigation. 

From Fort Ann to Whitehall, 11 miles, the canal runs 
side by side with Wood Creek, so near that a pistol 
shot will reach either, and we here see the truth of the 
principle of Brindley, the engineer of the Duke of 
JBridgewater's canal, who being questioned before the 
House of Commons, what he thought rivers were made 
for, replied, " to feed navigable canals ;" and although 
the channel of Wood Creek is actually used for canal 
purposes for six or seven miles, yet as it has a strong 
current difficult to stem in coming from Whitehall, the 
canal is preferable. At one remarkable spot the road 
passes over, for several hundred feet, the surface of a 
bare rock, called the " Devil's Dining Table." There 
is a variety of hill and dale, barren rocks, swamps, 
tracts of clay, alluvion, and of rich mould in this 
county. 

At Whitehall, Burgoyne destroyed the American flo- 
tilla in 1777, and the baggage and stores of the Ameri- 
can army, and had his head quarters for some time, while 
his troops were forming a road and clearing obstructions 
(that the Americans had prepared to oppose their pro- 
gress) to enable him to get on with his army and ma- 
terial the short distance to Fort Edward, and to accom- 
plish this he spent so much time, and subsequently in 
camp at Fort Edward in waiting for his provisions, ar- 
tillery, &c. to arrive from Whitehall, that the Ameri- 
cans had time to rally their militia from all quarters, 
and poured in her hardy mountaineers from Vermont, 
New-Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and 
soon turned back the current of invasion. 

The remains of an intrenchment thrown up at that 
time by the English, may yet be seen on the hill over- 
looking the basin, the village, and the falls of Wood 
Creek, and the canal and locks that are compressed 



200 Excursion down Lake Champlain. 

side by side ; nature versus art. A path leads to the 
summit. There is a bridge over. Wood Creek. 

The rocks are beautifully stratified in horizontal and 
perpendicular lines, similar to masonry, and this is seen 
in other places as we pass on. 

The summit of Skene's Mountain at Whitehall is 588 
feet. 

Fidler's Elbow near Whitehall, was the place where 
the flotilla was captured on Lake Champlain in 1814, 
by M'Donough, were laid up insecurity, and remained 
several years to rot and perish. 



Excursion down Lake Champlain and 
on the St. Lawrence to Montreal and 
Quebec. 

The stranger uninformed of the topography of this 
country, on arriving at Whitehall, is astonished to look 
down into the narrow glen below the village and witness 
the mimic stir and bustle of a small sea-port, amid a 
very rough country in the centre of the State, with 
crags and precipices towering above the busy settle- 
ment that appears to be placed at the edge of a dull, 
pond-like body of water, without any visible outlet, in a 
position dividing the primitive rocks on the west from 
the transition on the east. 

The steamboat usually leaves soon after dinner, thus 
giving the traveller several hours of daylight in getting 
through the narrow and difficult sinuous channel, that 
seems to turn to every quarter of the compass, with ve- 
ry restricted limits to put about or pass a vessel going 
in a contrary direction ; in short, this arm of the lake is 
for miles a lifeless, sedgy, discoloured body of water, 
destitute of current, and confined between low banks, 
miry, wet, and marshy, that extend in some places sev- 
eral furlongs back, to the ridges that limit the valley. 

Soon after leaving the dock we notice on the left an 
expansion of the lake, that was taken by Dieskau in 



Excursion down hake Champlain, etc. 201 

his descent in 1755, called South Bay, extending- five 
miles southwest, bounded in that direction by the lofty 
chain of granite mountains 1,500 feet high, that upholds 
the waters of Lake George, and that has a wild repul- 
sive aspect. There is one remarkable gateway-looking 
aperture through which the boat passes, almost brush- 
ing the perpendicular face of the wall, that has the arti- 
ficial appearance before alluded to, and from thence, 
after continuing on a few miles, the lake sensibly 
widens for the remainder of the 25 miles that brings us 
to Ticonderoga, with Mount Defiance on the left, and 
Independence on the right, both alluded to in pages 193 
and 194. 

The precipitate abandonment of the fortress in 1759, 
that had been constructed by the French, and from 
whence had been sent those hordes of savage and fero- 
cious bands that kept the colonies in constant terror,, 
and from which the French now finally retired,, was a 
subject of deep congratulation and thanksgiving to the 
American nation ; and as up to this period the fort had 
not been captured in open fight, but only by stratagem,, 
it was held to be impregnable until the expedient was 
suggested to Burgoyne of assailing it with cannon ball 
from Mount Defiance, which soon dislodged the Amer- 
icans from that, and also from the formidable works at 
Mount Independence directly opposite. 

A landing now occurs either at Ticonderoga or on 
the opposite side in Vermont ; and those not wishing to 
proceed any further, can spend a few hours or a day in 
examining the ruins and take the boat to the head of 
the lake, and proceed to the Springs and to Niagara. 

There does not exist in the United States a place that 
exhibits the historical and moral associations equal to 
those attached to this romantic spot, where has so often 
been displayed the grim defiance of the warrior, fol- 
lowed by the rapid mutability of human events, the fluc- 
tuations of power, and the repose that distinguishes the 
peninsula under the fostering care and preservation of 
its amiable and appreciating owner, that will hold as 



202 Five Mile Point — Port Henry. 

sacred the relics that here remain, until the moss and 
hue of ages, and its ivy-crowned ramparts will impart 
increasing interest to all Americans and antiquarians, 
and cause it to be visited by countless pilgrims. The 
landscape that Ticonderoga presents, the lake, the bay, 
the ruins, the near and distant mountains, and the gorge 
leading the eye up towards the falls, all properly 
grouped, and the happy moment seized in the afternoon, 
when clouds, light and shadow, all are favourable, offer 
the most splendid subject for the pencils of our most 
accomplished artists. 

Five Mile Point, so called, from its distance from 
Ticonderoga, extends a considerable space out from the 
east or Vermont side, in the town of Shoreham, and in 
9 miles more the boat arrives at Crown Point, and the 
landing at Chimney Point, half a mile across the lake, 
in the township of Addison, in Vermont. The fort of 
Crown Point, 37 miles from Whitehall, is at the extre- 
mity of a tongue of land jutting far into the lake to the 
north, elevated 47 feet above the water of Lake Cham- 
plain, and having a considerable body of water on the 
west, called West Bay. On the farther shore of this 
bay is Port Henry, that will soon be described. 

This post, when in French possession from 1731 to 
1759, was another source of grievance and distress to the 
colonies, and its fate in being abandoned to Lord Am- 
herst without bloodshed, a cause of much rejoicing ; 
the ruins of the French works may yet be seen from the 
boat's deck on the south side of the bay, opposite Chim- 
ney Point. An entire new fortress of earth and wood, 
22 feet thick, 16 high, was then constructedby Lord 
Amherst. It was 1,500 yards square, and had a deep 
and broad ditch cut in the solid granite with immense 
labour, besides a double row of strong stone barracks to 
contain 2,000 troops, with a gate on the north, a draw- 
bridge, and a covered way to the water ; these expen- 
sive works are partly in ruins. The redoubt of the 
French was on the very bank of the lake, 150 yards 
from the fort, and is now a mere heap of stones. (Near 



Excursion to the Highest Mountains in New- York. 203 

this point on the 18th October, 1776, terminated the 
American expedition against Canada, by the destruction 
of the fleet under Arnold.) 

Crown Point and its garrison are said to have cost 
the British government two millions of pounds sterling! 
a great and useless waste of money, as the ground is 
fiat, commanded by the hills on the west, and the fort 
has never been tested or occupied either in offensive or 
defensive operations. 

In proceeding along the lake in the day-time, or from 
the highest part of the walls of this fortification, the 
Green Mountains in Vermont, and the more lofty sum- 
mits lately explored, as the sources of the Hudson and 
the Au Sable, about 20 miles west, are seen to soar up 
to their utmost heights, and fill the horizon with infinite 
grandeur ; and here also the lake opens finely to the 
north, with an effect that is increased in beauty, by the 
tourist having at first been very restricted as to the dis- 
tant perspective, and the water that hitherto has been 
shallow, muddy, and opaque, becomes clear, deep, and 
potable, and expands suddenly four or five miles ; and 
above Ferrisburgh and the mouth of Otter Creek, to 10 
or 12, and has its greatest width, 18 miles, opposite 
Burlington. 

Lake Champlain is more than 600 feet deep, as sound- 
ings have been made to that depth and no bottom, thus 
making (as the surface is 93 above tide) a large portion 
of the lake below the level of the sea. 



Excursion to the Highest Mountains in 
the State of New- York, and to the 
Sources of the Hudson and Au Sable. 

The tourist wishing to explore the glens, dykes, lakes, 

j lofty pinnacles, minerals, numerous water-falls, and at- 

; tractions of this new field of examination, recently 

brought before the public by the corps of savans of the 

I State, may land either at Port Henry, or at Northwest 



5 



'204 Port Henry — East Moriah.' 

Bay, or Westport, opposite Basin Harbour, Vermont, or 
at Essex a few miles north, or at the mouth of the Au 
Sable, at or near Port Kent, or Keesville, (a railroad 
four and three quarter miles long connects the two 
places,) and then trace up along the banks of the Au 
Sable to its source 4,747 feet; from this enormous 
height it descends in only 40 miles in a gorge or ravine, 
that has either been made by its waters, or made by 
earthquakes or some powerful, natural cause, that exhi- 
bits an array of successive water-falls more sublime and 
magnificent than any other part of the United States, 
and that well rewards the curious traveller fond of such 
exciting exhibitions of nature. 

Port Henry is a small village and place of landing on 
the west shore of the bay, about a mile or two from 
Crown Point ; the road leading from thence into the in- 
terior is much used for the transportation of sawed pine 
lumber, there being in the large township of Moriah 
more than 60 saw mills ; a ride of 6 miles west enters 
the forest, and crosses the old State road from Warren 
county to Plattsburgh, that has a line of settlements on 
its border? ; the junction of primary rocks with the tran- 
sition series, may be seen near the western border of 
Lake Champlain, and at the line of contact the lime- 
stone is in white masses, crystaline in structure, with 
scales of plumbago. 

East Moriah is three and a half miles west, 800 feet 
above the lake, and has a fine view of the western slope 
of Vermont, and the extended and fine outline of the 
Green Mountains in the distant back ground. 

A new road, rather rough, leads to Weatherheads, at 
West Moriah, on the Scroon River, or northeast branch 
of the Hudson, 13 miles from Port Henry, and on through 
an unsettled country to the Black River in Lewis coun- 
ty, following defiles and gaps in the Scroon Mountains, 
that at Weatherheads appear to rear their lofty and con- 
tinued ridges and cliffs, and prevent all access ; but 
there is an unseen gorge that leads to Israel Johnson's, 
at the outlet of a beautiful mountain lake, called Clear 



Lakes, Mountains, etc. 205 

Pond, 9 miles from Scroon River. From Johnson's may 
be seen the highest peak 20 Q west, that is covered with 
snow 9 or 10 months. 

A further distance of nine miles reaches to the Boreas, 
a branch of the Hudson, 8 miles from Johnson's, and 
soon to the main north branch of the Hudson, near and 
below its junction with the outlet of Lake Sanford, and 
in a few rods to the landing at the outlet of the lake, 9 
miles from the Boreas. From hence, leaving the road 
as before, we diverge and enter a difficult path, that 
leads up the west of the lake, and in six miles the tour- 
ist is at the Iron works, at M'Intyee, and at£the remark- 
able and vast beds of ore of the best quality in its 
vicinity. 

Lake Sanford is about five miles long, and is a hand- 
some expanse, and, with all the lakes and streams, 
abounds in trout. 

Labradorite, or Feldspar, abounds from Scroon Val- 
ley to Hamilton and Franklin counties, and north to the 
plains that are between the upper waters oftheAu Sa- 
ble and Lake Placed, an area in all of 600 to 800 square 
miles, and blocks and boulders of this rock are found 
south and west to the southern boundary of this State, 
and are at Coxsackie of 100 tons, 300 feet above the 
Hudson. 



Lakes, ITIountains and Sources of the 
Hudson and Au Sable. 

From NVIntyre, those intending to reach the virgin 
source of the Hudson, in defiance of wolves, deer, moose 
and panthers, that all abound in these unfrequented 
haunts, must here plunge into the wilds, in a southeast 
direction, passing two small lakes, till at three or four 
miles from the settlement at the south point of one of 
the mountains, a more east course leads to the main 
branch of the river, that is occasionally forded and con- 
tinued on the beach ; rolled masses of the Labradorite- 
18 



206 Lakes, Mountains, etc. 

rock, in email opalescent specimens, show their beau- 
tiful colours in the stream, that increases in the ascent, 
and is seen to pour forth from between two mountains 
in front ; in two miles a more precipitous part of the 
gorge is met, through which the river descends, and 
progress becomes difficult and dangerous, and falls and 
rapids frequent, and at last an imposing cascade is en- 
countered, that is closely pent between two steep moun- 
tains, and falls about 80 feet into a deep chasm, precipi- 
tous and secluded. 

Similar obstacles continue till the head of this ter- 
rific ravine is reached, where a ledge of rock crosses 
and obstructs the stream that backs and raises the river 
for a mile in a west and northwest direction, and forms 
a level called the Upper Still Water, that is pent in the 
bottom of this deep mountain recess or valley, with 
scarce any visible current. On continuing up the val- 
ley, the river has a meandering course of one mile to 
the northwest, and north, with some current, until it 
forks in two branches ; the main one comes from the 
east, the one from the north, in 200 yards, leads to the 
outlet of a fine lake one mile long, called Lake Golden, 
that is situated between two mountain peaks, that rise 
in full and lofty grandeur ; the valley to northeast, 
leads to the Avalanche Lake, that is nearly equal to, and 
discharges by its outlet into Lake Colden. The moun- 
tains on the sides of Avalanche Lake rise so precipitous 
as to preclude any passage except by water, and the 
scenery is so imposing from the immense slides that 
have come from the steep face of the mountain, tha" 
its name is most truly appropriate. Fine specimens of 
the opalescent rock may here be found. 

Following the main stream to the southeast for two 
miles, over falls and rapids, in one spot the river has 
taken the place of a trap dyke that cut through the 
rock, thus forming a chasm or sluice of great depth, 
with perpendicular walls into which the river falls in a 
cascade of 50 feet. There are no trout above Lake 
Colden. The notch or pass, to be described in turn, is» 



Lakes, Mountains, etc. 207 

five miles north of M'Intyre ; the Wallface Mountain, 
on its west side, is 1,200 feet perpendicular ! 

From a boat on Lake Sanford, the beauty and gran- 
deur of the lake and mountain scenery is fully de- 
veloped and enjoyed, and the echos at a point on the up- 
per part are remarkably strong and distinct. 

Continuing on above the Great Dyke Falls, three 
miles, is the south elbow, where the bed of the main 
stream changes to the northeast, and a tributary comes 
in from the southwest. The course now enters the 
high valley, that separates Mount M'Martin from Mount 
Marcy on the southeast, but the forest growth is so 
dense that these peaks cannot here be seen ; a mile 
from the south elbow another tributary enters from the 
soritheast, from a ravine that borders the high peak on 
the west, where beautiful opalescent specimens of the 
labradorite are found in its bed. 

At one mile is a smaller tributary from the north, that 
from the low alluvial land near its entrance is called 
the High Meadow Fork, and has the surprising eleva- 
tion of "3,700 feet above tide, and by the same course 
for one mile, the route crossed by falls and cascades, 
we are past the broader part of the valley, and the di- 
rection to pursue is east-southeast and southeast, with 
a steeper ascent, and higher and more frequent falls. 
The valley becomes more compressed as we advance, 
and has the aspect of a ravine, with the two gigantic 
mountains on the north and south towering and filling 
the sky with an increasing ascent in like course for two 
or three miles to the summit of the pass. A portion of 
this valley has a ridge of boulders and debris, that a 
slide or avalanche has brought from the face of the 
mountain above. The stream rapidly diminishes as we 
ascend to the southeast, and is at last partially hid un- 
der the grass-covered boulders at the head of the 
stream, on the summit of this elevated pass, that here 
forms a beautiful and open mountain meadow, with the 
ridges of the two adjacent mountains, rising in easy 
elopes from its sides. From this little meadow in 



208 Ascent of the High Peak of Essex. 

Keene, the main branch of the Hudson and a fork of 
the east branch of the Au Sable commence their des- 
cending course in opposite directions. The elevation 
is 4,700 feet above tide water, and more than 900 feet 
above the highest point of the Catskill Mountains. 



Ascent of the Higli Peak of Essex. 

From the meadow below, the ridge is ascended to the 
west-southwest, amid an entangled zone of dwarf pines 
and spruces, that with their numerous horizontal 
branches interwoven with each other, surround the 
mountain at this elevation. They gradually decrease 
in height till the open surface of the mountain is 
reached, covered with mosses and small alpine 'plants, 
and these continue for a space, When the tourist that is 
persevering, able, and daring enough to sustain the fa- 
tigues of the adventure, finds himself on the highest 
peak in the State of New -York, 5,467 feet, — 600 feet 
above the White Face mountain, and 1,650 above the 
Catskills. 

The summit and mass of the mountain is entirely of 
the Labradoritic rock. Ice has been found here on the 
third of August half an inch thick. The source of the 
Hudson bears north 70 degrees, east one and a quarter 
miles, and the descent to it is more gradual than in any 
other direction. 

The view from the summit presents mountain masses 
of various magnitudes and elevations — a sea of broken 
and pointed billows, scattered around in irregular pro- 
fusion. In the distance is the great valley or plain of 
the St. Lawrence, the shining surface of Lake Cham- 
plain, and the extensive mountain range of Vermont, 
and in nearer proximity is beheld the bald surface of 
recent mountain slides from various peaks, and the 
glistening of many lakes deeply embosomed in the val- 
leys. 



Great Trap Dyke — Mount M'Intyre. 209 

The Great Trap Dyke* of Mount M'Martin cuts 
through it from N. N. W. to E. S. E. is 80 feet wide, 
and being in part broken from its bed by water and ice, 
an open chasm is thus formed in the abrupt and almost 
perpendicular face of the mountain, and the scene on 
entering it is one of overpowering grandeur ; its nearly 
vertical walls of rock overhang the spectator, and seem 
to threaten destruction ; but with care and exertion, 
though at much peril, it may be ascended by means of 
the foothold of the irregularities of its surface, 1,500 
feet, and fine specimens of the opalescent labradorite 
obtained. The summit of Mount M'Martin is lower 
than the peaks each side of it, and is estimated at 4,950 
feet. 

The distance from the outlet of Lake Colden to the 
head of Avalanche Lake is two and a quarter miles, 
and the stream that enters the head of the latter, three 
quarters of a mile, and fall of the outlet of Lake Colden, 
80 feet. The elevation of Avalanche Lake is 3,000 
feet, being the highest lake in the United States. The 
mountain that rises on the west of this lake, and sepa- 
rates its valley from that of the Au Sable, is perhaps, 
in mass, the largest of the group. Its ridge has four 
peaks, the last but one to the north is the highest, and 
is above the lake, and opposite to Mount M'Martin, 
and is named after a former comptroller of this State, 
M'Intyre. 

Mount M'Intyre can be ascended through a deep ra- 
vine, that empties its small stream into Lake Colden. 
The ascent is only'one mile of horizontal distance, and 
the more difficult from its being at a steeper angle : the 
ravine is the easiest route up, for on the sheltered side 
the impervious growth of low evergreens is very per- 
plexing. More lakes are seen, and the beautiful and 
extensive group, the Saranac Waters, and the source 
of the Saranac, and joining the lake at Plattsburgh. 

* By a dyke is meant a wall or vein of mineral matter, different from 
the ore or rock that it traverses. The dykes in their beds of ore, are 
usually vertical, or nearly so. 

18* 



210 Mount M'Intyre. 

The view of the still water of the Hudson, like a sil- 
ver thread in the bottom of its deep and forest green 
valley, is peculiarly attractive. The opposite front of 
Mount M'Martin exposes the face of the great dyke, 
and its passage through the summit near to its highest 
point, and nearly parallel to the whitened path of a slide 
that has descended into Avalanche Lake. 

The colour of the labradorite is a smoke gray, of va- 
rious shades, opaque or translucent, if in this lamina ; 
the best are a blue and a green. Without particularizing 
all the varieties, let it suffice to say, they are prolific, 
and of surpassing beauty. The polished pieces, form 
gems highly esteemed in jewelry, and they cannot be 
imitated, as most other gems. For tables, mantels, and 
ornamental purposes, it is best adapted and of the most 
value, and it may be split into rectangular pieces of any 
size, and sawn into slabs of the size wanted, by mills on 
the spot, or sent to market rough ; it receives a polish su- 
perior to any of the American marbles, and is worth five 
times as much. 

Mount M'Intyre is also intersected by dykes that cross 
it at the lowest point of depression between its several 
peaks, and its ravines are caused by the more rapid ero- 
sion of the dykes. 

The highest of the peaks has cracks and fissures in va- 
rious directions caused by earthquakes. 

The most remarkable geological phenomena of this re- 
gion is the dykes that traverse the hypersthem rocks ; 
they have an east and west line for great distances, and to 
an extent that the wooden state of the country does not 
admit of exactly defining, the largest being at Avalanche 
Lake ; a portion of the north face of the wall may be 
seen from Lake Henderson, five miles distance. This 
gorge exhibits, on a large scale, the effects of frost and 
water in rending the crust of the globe ; the masses are 
from 50 to 100 feet, and lie in confusion in all directions 
from the base to the summit. 

Large blocks of labradoritic rocks are scattered about 
the summit of Mount M'Martin ; the height is 5,200 



Notch — Bald Peak. 211 

feet, and is the second in elevation in this nest of peaks, 
consisting of 20, or 30 that nearly approach, if not ex- 
ceed, 5,000 feet — far exceeding the highest peaks of 
the Catskills. 

Descending the mountain cone, that is very abrupt on 
all sides, by a steep ravine leading to the valley of the Au 
Sable, and ascending that stream, the traveller will ar- 
rive at the extraordinary pass of the 

Notch, that is, an immense gorge or chasm that gives a 
pass through these high mountains. On one side rises 
the solid rock in a flare-up precipice of more than 
1,000 feet ; on the other a steep mountain rises to an 
elevation of 5,000 feet. The north or principal branch 
of the Hudson, 3,000 feet high, that passes through 
Lake Henderson, rises in this notch, as also does the 
south branch of the Au Sable; the former flows south, 
the other north, and these streams are so near each 
other, that during freshets and meltings in spring, their 
waters mingle. Vast blocks have fallen from the great 
precipice of the Wallface Mountain on one side, and 
from Mount M'Intyre on the other, into the bottom of 
this dreadful gulf; some of the blocks are set on end, 
of a height of 70 feet, in the moss-covered tops and 
crevices of which large trees have taken root, and 
shoot their lofty stems high above the topling founda- 
tion. 

Lake Henderson is a fine sheet of water, of two or 
three miles long, with the high mountain of Santanoni 
rising from its borders on the west and southwest. 

Bald Peak is an eminence 2,065 feet high, on the west 
shore of Lake Champlain, seven miles north-northwest 
from Crown Point. A good carriage road leads from 
East Moriah nearly to the foot of the peak, from whence 
the ascent by a foot-path is not difficult, and may be 
accomplished even by ladies without hazard. The 
summit commands a grand view of some of the princi- 
pal peaks in the interior ; and the prolonged basin of 
Lake Champlain, and the view that is obtained is well 
worth the trouble of the ascent, and is worthy the at- 



212 Cedar Point — Westport -^Basin Harbou r. 

tention of tourists that can land conveniently either at 
Port Henry or Westport. 

The source of the Hudson and the High Peak of Es- 
sex can be most conveniently reached from Johnson's, 
at Clear Pond, by a course north 20° west, or by land- 
ing at Westport, or Essex, and proceeding to the near- 
est settlement at Keene. By landing at Port Kent, and 
ascending the course of the Au Sable to the southeast 
part of Keene, and from thence to the peak, the most 
interesting chain of water-falls and mountain ravines 
that is to be found, perhaps, in the United States, may 
be visited. At Keene, Mr. Harvey Holt, an able woods- 
man, will act as guide and assistant in reaching the 
mountain. From the valley that lies south of the peak, 
and near to the head waters of the Boreas and Au Sa- 
ble, may be obtained some of the best mountain views 
that this region affords. Travellers must, however, pro- 
vide and take their own means of subsistence while ab- 
sent from the settlements. 

Cedar Point is a small village on the lake, and has 
a valuable bed of verd antique marble. 

Westport is at the head of the northwest bay of Lake 
Champlain, eight miles east of Elizabeth and has two 
churches, an academy, two taverns, five stores, a ferry 
to Basin Harbour, Vermont, and 60 to 70 dwellings. 
It is thriving, and is surrounded by a large quantity of 
excellent land under good culture. On the road north 
of Westport towards Essex, the road passes through 
two parallel ridges of granite, with not a foot to spare, 
with evidence of strong erosion by powerful currents 
that have worn and polished the rock on both sides in 
a long cylindrical excavation, horizontal. 

Basin Harbour is a post village in Addison County, 
Vermont, in Tenisburg, east side of Lake Champlain, 
4A miles south of the mouth of Otter Creek, and 10 
miles from Vergennes, and is an important landing 
place for the country people on the banks of Otter 
Creek ; and a road leads hence to Middlebury, Ver- 
gennes, and Montpelier, 



Elizabeth —Essex — Split Rock. 213 

In launching forth into the lake a few miles north, 
the Camel's Rump and the Mansfield Mountain, two of 
tho loftiest peaks of the Green Mountain range, are 
seen in all their distinctive grandeur ; the Onion River, 
and the celebrated Gulf Road to Montpelier, leads 
through the gorge or depression between the lofty " 
peaks referred to. 

Elizabeth, is 8 miles west of Lake Champlain ; is a 
shire town and a post village ; has the Court-house of 
brick, prison of stone, fire proof Clerk's Office, State 
Arsenal of brick, thirty dwellings, three taverns, two 
stores. 

Pleasant Valley is drained northeast by the Bouquet 
River ; Black Creek and Roaring Brook have other 
vales. The mountains have points of considerable ele- 
vation. The Giants of the Valley, one mile south-west, 
is 1,200 feet above the level of the plain, and Rover's 
Hill, on the east, is about the same. From the former 
is an extensive and beautiful view of the whole valley 
of Lake Champlain, the Green Mountains, and vales of 
Vermont, and of Burlington, Vergennes, Middlebury, 
and others, Plattsburgh, and the whole west shore of 
the Lake. On the northeast it has an almost perpendi- 
cular declivity of 700 feet. Iron abounds, and iron 
works exist on the Bouquet* six miles above Elizabeth, 
at Valley Forge. 

Essex is a post village and landing-place on the west 
side of the lake, on a handsome plain, and has 50 dwel- 
lings, one very fine Presbyterian church, two stores and 
taverns. The buildings are of brick or limestone, and 
some of wood, and gay, with extensive gardens, that give 
it an extent of three miles. 

Split Rock is part of a rocky promonotory projecting 
into the lake about 150 feet, and 40 feet above the wa- 
ter. The broken-off part contains half an acre, covered 
with trees, and is 20 feet from its mate, that if brought 
together would make a close fit ; through this cavity a 
line has been dropped 500 feet without finding bottom. 
Whiteface Mountain, in the north part of Essex coun- 



214 White/ace Mountain — Burlington. 

ty, is 4,909 feet above tide, and is so named from a slide 
having on one side laid, bare the rock, that has a gray- 
ish-white appearance, and is feldspar and granite. It 
is the water-shed of the district, as all the large rivers 
flowing in the northern counties have their origin here, 
either in marshes or lakes at the base of the mountains 
hereabouts, or they rise from springs that gush from 
their sides and dash in slender cataracts over the cliffs 
and rocks, as they commence their career to the distant 
ocean. 

From the topmost pinnacle of Whiteface, 20 or 30 
lakes may be seen clustering at the feet of the eleva- 
ted peaks, and on the higher levels, and forming a 
beautiful contrast, by their sparkling and silvery expan- 
sions, to the dark forests that extend to the horizon on 
every side. Long Lake is 18 miles long and 6 broad, 
and flows into Racket River, and through St. Lawrence 
county, into the river of that name. 

As proof of uncommon height, the trees in this local- 
ity are alpine, dwarfish, and but a few feet high, with 
stiff, rigid branches, on which a person may walk, and 
this region is not free from snow three months in the 
year. 

Burlington, Vermont, the next landing-place, on a 
deep indentation on the east shore of the lake, is on an 
acclivity that rises upwards of 300 feet, and appears 
most favourably as it is approached. The streets, 
houses, and public buildings, and the University of Ver- 
mont, are all displayed on the slope, and command an 
extensive view of the lake, and of the highest moun- 
tains in the State of New- York. There are 300 or 400 
houses, 4 churches, the county buildings, and a bank ; 
this town is much admired, and will compete with ma- 
ny others in the Eastern States. One mile and a half 
to the northeast is a mannfacturing village on Onion 
River, at the falls. This town is of more commercial 
importance than any other in the State west of the 
mountains, and much travelling passes through it from 



Port Kent — Pittsburgh. 215 

Canada and from the east ; it is 24 miles northwest to 
Plattsburgh, and 10 to Port Kent directly west. 

Port Kent, 15 miles south of Plattsburgh, the next 
place of stopping ; is the port for the lumber and iron 
trade of the Au Sable River and mines. The expansive 
view of the lake, and its near and distant islands, and 
headlands, and of Burlington, and other places, is most 
beautiful. 

Port Douglas a little beyond, has the landing for 
Clintonville iron-works, and a few dwellings. 

Keesville, 16 miles south of Plattsburgh, has 200 
dwellings and 1,200 inhabitants. 

Pursuing the valley of the Au Sable for 40 miles up 
southwest, the tourist and admirer of the picturesque 
will enjoy a feast in communing with the beauties of 
nature, that cannot be exceeded. 

Birmingham, at Adgate's Falls, two and a half miles 
below Keesville near the mouth of the Au Sable, has a 
few dwellings and a forge, a mill, &c. The river Au 
Sable is here like a deep canal in the solid rock, with 
many falls or locks, in steps or ledges retreating as we 
advance. The Great Falls, 3 miles above the mouth, 
and 3 west of Port Kent, fall over a precipice of 80 feet 
in a lock-chamber-like, deep cavity, the walls rising 60 
to 100 feet, and 70 feet wide, and at half a mile below 
it contracts to 27 feet, and the water is 35 feet deep. 
The river cuts through a ridge that opposes its course, 
the top being level, thus forming a chasm of one mile 
long, with walls like exact masonry ; the depth is 135 
feet. There are other chasms in different directions, but 
dry and partly filled. 

Peru is four miles west of the lake and 20 south of 
Plattsburgh. 

Plattsburgh is prettily laid oat and situated at the 
head of Cumberland Bay, at the mouth of the Saranac, 
and has 300 to 400 dwellings and 3,000 inhabitants. 

On Cumberland Head is the farm of 300 acres pre- 
sented to M'Donough by the State of New- York for his 
gallant conduct. 



216 Champlain, etc. 

The route for a canal from Plattsburgh to Ogdens- 
burgh has been surveyed and found practicable, and 
also a railroad. 

The North and the South Hero are two islands 20 
miles in extent, that are passed on the east, after leav- 
ing Plattsburgh and Cumberland Head, and rounding to 
the north ; the Ram's Head on the west, and Isle La 
Motte on the east, are passed in succession in 10 miles, 
when the boat arrives at Chazy landing, 15 miles north 
of Plattsburgh. Chazy landing is one mile south of the 
Little Chazy, and three from the village. West Chazy 
has 30 dwellings, a few mills, (late Lawrence's,) and a 
Methodist church. Chazy Village has 50 dwellings, 
several mills, &c, on the State road from Albany to 
Canada. 

The outlet of the Big Chazy River is in the bay, to 
the west of Point au Fer, a headland that intrudes 
boldly into the lake from the west. 

Champlain is the last village on the State road south 
of the frontier, on the left bank of the Big Chazy River, 
5 miles from the lake ; has a Presbyterian and Metho- 
dist church, 40 dwellings, 8 saw and 1 grist mill, 1 fur- 
nace, 1 tannery, 1 carding and cloth-dressing mill, 1 
temperance house. 

Perrysville, on the Chazy, three miles west of Cham- 
plain, and 24 north-west of Plattsburgh, has 25 dwel- 
lings. 

Corbeau, at the confluence of Corbeau River and 
Chazy, is 18 miles north of Plattsburgh. 

Rousse's Point, 23 miles north of Plattsburgh, is a 
place where much smuggling and illicit trade is carried 
on. The stone fort that was erected here by the United 
States, under the false and careless impression that it 
was in their territory, has been given up. It was gross 
carelessness, to say the least, to erect such an expen- 
sive work without being certain of the fact of legal right 
to its foundation. The Sorel River begins at Rousse's 
and Wind-mill Point. 



St. John's. 217 

Wind-mill Point, on the east shore, is just on the 
boundary, latitude 45°. 

Odletown, in Canada, is 2 miles west ; Ash Island 
and fort, and La Colle Creek on the west, in 2 miles ; 
and the Isle aux Noix and fort, in 7 miles, is a very low 
damp spot on the west. 

The River Sorel, or Richlieu, the outlet and drain of 
Lake Champlain, enters the St. Lawrence at the head 
of Lake St. Peter, at Fort William Henry, 69 miles 
north from Rousse's Point. 

The country on both sides is low, dull, and uninter- 
esting ; an inundated swamp, and can never be of any 
importance for cultivation, though a few feet of dry land 
and a few huts are to be seen, but no settlement worth 
mentioning for 20 miles ; the system of dyking, as in 
Holland, might here easily be practiced with success, if 
the land is of value to meet the outlay. At present the 
aspect is repulsive, and mosquitoes, agues, and fevers 
predominate. 

St. John's is at the head of the Sorel, here 1,000 yards 
wide, and here is the termination of the steamboat navi- 
gation, 160 miles from Whitehall ; fare, $5. 

The railroad hence to La Prairie is 17 miles direct, 
and is passed in 1 hour, the country being very level. St. 
John's is a bustling place, has 150 houses and 1,000 inhab- 
itants, and was formerly an important military post, in the 
wars of 1759-63, and '76-83, but was taken by Gen. 
Montgomery on his way to Quebec in 1775, as was also 
Chambly. The latter place is 12 miles further down 
the Sorel, and has been one of the seats of the troubles 
and rebellion in Canada, and has suffered exceedingly 
by its participation in those calamities. The old fort in 
ruins is venerable in its walls of earth. 

A glimpse of Montreal is had before arriving at La 
Prairie or at Longueil that is quite pleasing ; and as we 
draw nearer we observe its tin-covered houses and lofty 
cathedral domes and steeples glittering in the sun- 
beams ; its compact series of buildings reaching for two 
or three miles on the shore, and ascending gradually to 
19 



218 St. Helena. 

the base of the hill that rises to 700 feet, covered with 
villas and fine country-seats ; and in the majestic St. 
Lawrence, its expanse ornamented with green forest- 
clothed islands, and whitened with roaring and foaming 
rapids, the astonished and delighted traveller beholds, 
at once, a superb coup d'ceil and landscape, and the 
evidences of a great and thriving northern capital. 

Standing on the bank at La Prairie, 30 to 40 feet 
hio-h, the La Chine Rapids are seen on the left, forming 
a "snowy line 8 to 10 miles up, extending across from 
Caunaivoga to La Chine villages ; and nearly opposite 
is the island of St. Paul, and further down, past the city, 
the beautiful St. Helena, swelling out with its round- 
ed forest-crowned hills, verdant and beautiful, its forts, 
entrenchments, and waving flags. It is occupied by a 
garrison, and the families of the officers and other em- 
ployees of the government. A neat cottage and rustic 
pavilions are to be seen, erected by Lord and Lady Dal- 
housie : it has, in miniature proportions, its wood- 
crowned steeps, shady glades, and open meadows, with 
a near and distinct view of the city. 

This island, one mile long, and one half wide, was 
the last foothold of the French dominion in Canada, and 
from above the fort, now in ruins, was last seen the 
white standard and lily that at one time fluttered from 
the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi. On the west point 
of the island the tree still flourishes beneath which the 
articles for ceding the Canadas were agreed upon. Here 
is a company of the royal artillery, an extensive depot 
for stores, an armory, two magazines, with 6,000 bar- 
rels of gunpowder, and other munitions of war. The 
echoes produced by the morning and evening gun are 
very fine. This island has all the attractions nature 
could devise, scattered with a most liberal hand, — 
shade, shrubs, flowers, groves, birds of beautiful plum- 
age, fine views, winding walks, &c. 



Montreal. 219 



Montreal, 

latitude 45 ° 31', is 500 miles from the mouth of the 
noble river St. Lawrence, 180 above Quebec, and 200 
below Lake Ontario, 380 from New- York, 300 from 
Boston. 

The psssage of nine miles down the St. Lawrence is 
rapidly effected in the steamboat from La Prairie, aided 
by a strong current and bordering rapids. The landing 
is somewhat steep and inconvenient, and in wet weather 
slippery and muddy; and surmounting such trifles, the 
traveller finds himself in the midst of one of the princi- 
pal streets of the city, St. Paul's extending parallel with 
the river for miles. Notre Dame-street is higher up, 
and is more retired and genteel for private residences, 
the former being occupied more particularly for busi- 
ness. The streets present much bustle and activity, 
consequent upon a population estimated at from 40 to 
50,000. The lower streets are narrow and inconvenient, 
as compared with cities in the United States generally ; 
but the houses being of a grayish stone, or brick, 
and tiled or covered with tin, have a massive and 
heavv, but durable appearance. The streets in the more 
recent parts are wider and better. 

The immense fur trade, of the yearly value of £256,- 
000 sterling, of the Hudson and Northwest Companies, 
now united, is concentrated at, and directed from, this 
city : and here their voyagers start from, and return af- 
ter months and years of absence. The city that had 
within its pallisades origin'ally but 100 acres, now covers 
more than 1,200. 

The number and great size of the public edifices is 
surprising to a citizen of the United States. The- Ge- 
neral Hospital, or Convent of the Gray Sisters, is 678 feet 
front on the little St. Pierre River, and is a refuge and 
poor-house for the infirm and destitute, founded in 1750. 
The Hotel Dieu is 324 front, and 468 feet deep, and has 
a bevy of nuns that devote themselves to the care of the 



220 Montreal 

sick of both sexes ; it was founded in 1664. The Con- 
vent of Notre Dame is 234 feet by 433, and is a semina- 
ry for the education of females. 

The Cathedral of Notre Dame, that will hold 10,000 
people, is 255 feet long, and is situated in the street of 
that name, and is the most imposing edifice in the city 
or in Canada, towering up above all other buildings. 

The English Cathedral is a splendid building, but not 
as large as the other. 

The Seminary of St. Sulpice occupies three sides of a 
square, 132 feet by 90, with spacious gardens ; founded 
1657. 

The Petit Seminaire, or New College, is in the Re- 
collet suburbs, 210 feet by 45, with a wing at each end, 
186 feet by 45, and is an appendage of the preceding. 

La Maison des Prttres, formerly the Chateau des 
Seigneurs de Montreal, is near the mountain, and is also 
attached to the two preceding, and is a large building 
of stone, with a massy wall enclosing extensive gardens. 
With the exception of the mountain, the ridge of the 
coteau St. Pierre, and one or two smaller ones of no great 
elevation, the island exhibits a level surface, watered 
by several little rivers and rivulets, that turn numerous 
grist and saw mills in the interior, while many more 
around the island are worked by the great rivers. From 
the city to the east, the shores are 15 to 20 feet above 
the St. Lawrence, but in the opposite direction, towards 
La Chine, they are low, and between the coteau St. 
Pierre and the river, the land is flat, and near the lake 
marshy, and the La Chine Canal cut through thus 
avoids the rapids of St. Louis. 

Nelson's monument is one of the public squares in the 
vicinity of the public market. 

The Barracks were formerly occupied by the old 
Franciscan monks. 

The soil of the island is excellent, and productive in 
grains, vegetables, and fruits, and is pre-eminent over 
any other in Lower Canada. Roads run from north- 
east to southwest, nearly parallel, and are crossed by 



Montreal — La Chine. 221 

others at convenient distances, that form a complete 
'and easy communication in every direction. A turn- 
pike and canal to La Chine, seven miles, takes all the 
goods for Upper Canada. Within this space there is 
great variety, and some very romantic prospects. 

Eight per cent, tax is exacted for any alienation or 
transfer of real estate on the island of Montreal, for the 
benefit of the Convent and Roman Catholic religion ; 
but this has been resisted. 

There are many good public houses in the city. 

A mile or two from town, near the tanneries, the road 
ascends a steep hill, and keeps on a high ridge for more 
than three miles, commanding a beautiful view over 
the cultivated fields below, the rapids of St. Louis, the 
island in the St. Lawrence, and the varied woodland 
scenery on the opposite shore ; descending from the 
height it passes over a flat country until it reaches La 
Chine. This is a place of more importance than any 
other village on the island, and the centre of commerce 
between the upper and lower provinces and the north- 
west. There are few dwellings, but many store-houses 
of the merchants and of the Indian department. 

An excursion throughout the island of Montreal is 
replete with interest ; "the rapids of La Chine and St. 
Anne, at the southwest extremity of the island, and of 
the Cedres, a few miles beyond, and others that are still 
more remote, 10 to 30 miles, such as the Long Sault, 
can easily be reached in a short time, and should by no 
means be omitted by all strangers that can spare the 
time, and may never be so near again. Those coming 
down from Niagara, and Across the lake to Kingston, 
Ogdensburg, and Montreal, will of course have this 
enjoyment in due course. 

La Chine is nine miles from the city, and a canal ex- 
ists to pass boats around the rapids, and a trip is thus 
easy and cheap. 

Varennes, 15 miles below Montreal, is a lovely vil- 
lage, and may be easily visited by stage or carriage 
along the bank of the river, r or by steamboat, as it is 
19* 



222 Excursion from Montreal to Quebec. 

one of the regular landing-places. The hotel enjoys a 
liberal support, and also fine views of the shores of the 
St. Lawrence, the island of St. Helens, and Montreal, 
and of an archipelago of lovely islands, and the distant 
Chambly and other mountains. There is an attractive 
spring here of some celebrity. 

The summit of Montreal Mountain will come in for 
a visit in perambulating around the environs of the city ; 
it is only distant about two miles ; the view extends to 
the utmost stretch of vision, and the St. Lawrence is 
seen in all its grandeur and width, the city and St. He- 
lens being immediately beneath the eye ; an early 
morning's visit is recommended, so as to be on the top 
at sunrise, or soon after; the morning here dawns in 
June soon after 2 o'clock, and the twilight at evening 
continues till 10. 

The Sault au Recollet, 8 miles west of the city, is 
also an interesting spot, opposite Isle Jesus, where there 
are several stone mills, and a fishing station owned by 
the monks of St Sulpice. Standing on a green point 
a few feet above the river, in front is the Sault or Chute, 
foaming like the ocean in a gale, or dashing amongst 
reefs of rocks ; at half a mile beyond is the very spa- 
cious mill with lofty walls, thick, and pierced by narrow 
windows, with steep, red roofs, o'ertopped by a grove 
of noble trees. 



excursion from Montreal to Quebec* 

Daily trips are made in the summer, between these 
important cities, and the price is commonly $4 going- 
down ; time 12 hours. The steamers are usually of 
the largest and safest description, and have hitherto, 
with one exception,* been exempt from those terri- 
ble explosions and reckless loss of life that have 
been too often experienced on the Ohio and Mississippi, 

* The destruction by fire in June, 1S39, of ihe splendid steamer John 
Bull. 



Saint Francis. 223 

the great American Jakes, and along the borders of 
the coast. 

After bidding adieu, for a time, to the city of Montre- 
al, the attention of the tourist will be engaged by the 
novelty at first that will be presented in rapidly gliding 
past the lovely island of St. Helens, and over the rapids 
of St. Mary, where the current rushes with impetuosity 
six miles an hour, or at that rate for a short distance, 
but soon slackens as the river expands, to two or three 
miles an hour, and the width also varies from half to 
three-fourths, and two to four miles ; and the attractive 
village of Varennes, and the neat white houses, soon is 
presented, with its church and high pointed and double- 
turretted towers, and a lofty cross near by of 50 feet. 

The low banks of the St. Lawrence that stretch away 
far and wide, and seen in some places hardly above the 
level of the river, as we are in mid-channel in some 
of the wide expanses, soon become tiresome from 
the sameness, though we are seldom out of sight of 
houses, villages, and churches on both sides of the river ; 
the houses of one story, except the seigneurs, are white- 
washed once a year, roof and all. The churches are 
covered with tin that dazzles the eye with the reflected 
sun-beams. 

Each lot and house has a narrow front upon the river, 
but the extent in the rear is enormous and dispropor- 
tioned, two to three or four miles ; this brings forward 
the entire population, like an immense street of endless 
continuance, so gregarious and fond of society and com- 
panionship are the peasants ; and the mansion of the 
Seigneur is distinguished only by its superior size, and 
the churches have one to three spires, and are embla- 
zoned with tin. 

St. Francis and Point Tremble, on the left, and 
Boucheville on the right, are passed soon after leaving 
the city, in seven miles, and then the mouth of the Ot- 
tawa, or Grand River on the left with a bridge to cross 
to the north bank, opposite Cape St. Michael on the 
east of the St. Lawrence. 



224 Grand River — Sorel — Trois Rivieres. 

Grand River has its origin in that system of large 
and small lakes and bodies of water that exist between 
Lake Huron and Montreal, and that are very little 
known to the people of the United States ; but the Ot- 
tawa is a wide and important stream, and has many 
falls and carrying-places, and by means of the Rideau 
Canal, is the interior route to Kingston, on Lake Onta- 
rio. The canal begins 120 miles west from Montreal, 
at the mouth of the Rideau River, entering the Ottawa, 
and pursues a general south wast course. 

Sorel, or the Richlieu, 45 miles from Montreal, is at 
the mouth of the river of that name, forming the outlet 
of Lake Champlain. The shore is bold, and the boats 
lie close to the banks to wood. 

Many islands occur for the next few miles, and the 
river is bewildered among the channels, when gradually 
the lake of St. Peter is unfolded to the view, 20 to 25 
miles long, and 10 miles wide, shallow ; the water of a 
green colour, the shores flat and swampy ; no sensible 
current or motion, but smooth and lake-like. 

Trois Rivieres, half way between Montreal and Que- 
bec, is the third town in size, and quite a large place, 
and has 320 houses, and 2,500 inhabitants ; was founded 
in 1618, and extends three-quarters of a mile, fronting 
the river. 

The St. Maurice River enters from the north, and 
rises 150 miles northwest, near the head waters of 
streams that fall into James' Bay. The beacon course 
is on the south. In 23 miles from lake St Peter's we 
are at St. Anne's ; for the last named distance, the north 
side of this river might sit for the same potrait as the 
Mississippi, with a natural levee at a like elevation, and 
dead level ; and behind this are poor huts, badly built 
and painted, and still beyond them is a dreary forest of 
half-naked trees, with not a single gap or rise along the 
hazy line of the horizon resting upon them. 

As the Richlieu Rapids are approached, the river 
again becomes interesting ; the banks are once more 
broken and irregular ; numerous churches appear, 



Vicinity of Quebec. 225 

(having domes and spires like the befrois of Normandy, 
only that they are roofed with tin,) and shoot above each 
wooded knoll : and the whirls, and boils, and commo- 
tions amongst reefs of irregular rocks, some hidden, 
others visible, impel the boat at a great speed for such 
a ticklish and terrific navigation, where the river is very 
narrow, and the current rushes, with noise and tumult, 
over a rocky botlom. It is esteemed too dangerous for 
night navigation. 

From Cape Rouge, so called from its red hue, pro- 
duced by oxide of iron, the precipitous bank continues 
on the north, or left, as we proceed, for 7 miles, in an 
uninterrupted range of high ground, that becomes higher 
and higher. The mouth of the Chaudiere, 6 miles from 
Quebec, is passed coming in from the south, where, at its 
mouth, is a great lumber establishment of saw-mills at 
the falls to be described, and where ships load with 
timber for England. 

At length the distant towers of the famous city are 
descried : the banks increase in loftiness ; in two miles 
Sillery Cove and river are pointed out, then in one mile 
and a half Wolfe's Cove, the Martello towers on the 
heights of Abraham, round and mounted with cannon, 
placed in advance of the grand batteries, and long lines 
of defence, constructed of stone with all the art and skill 
of the engineer, are perceived, as we draw nearer, to 
extend along the verge of the precipice of naked rock, 
that, at a height of 340 feet, terminates in the high 
ramparts and circular castle bearing proudly aloft the 
red cross of England on the pinnacle of Cape Diamond. 

The scene increases in breathless interest every mo- 
ment ; forests of tall masts of hundreds of British ships 
are seen along the shore ; the grim and powerful bat- 
teries, where all the ingenuity of military skill has been 
exhausted to produce another Gibraltar, is seen on the 
left ; while on the right is Point Levi, with its soft 
wooded brow and brilliant white houses, also on a pre- 
cipice of rock, (but rather less elevated than Cape 
Diamond) and where, in 1759, General Monckton, by 
*b 



226 Lower Canada. 

order of General Wolfe, erected batteries to Bombard 
Quebec. 

The ruins of the Chateau of St. Louis, as we approach 
close to the lower town, are an object of very promi- 
nent interest in the approach to this truly picturesque 
capital. 

Montmorenci, with its valley and long and straggling 
suburb, then is disclosed to the view, and the beautiful 
bay, encircled by mountains, with nobly formed and 
swelling shores, bounded by the Isle of Orleans, 4 miles 
off, and by a delightful country on the north and north- 
east, with the St. Charles and Montmorenci Rivers 
falling into the bay, that sweeps most gracefully round 
like a bow, and presents, in a long circuit, snow-white 
cottages, handsome country houses, populous villages, 
that extend for miles in continued streets, and forms the 
most perfect coup d'oeil and unrivalled panorama. 



Lower Canada, 

embracing from, and including, Montreal, to the Gulf, 
and both sides of the St. Lawrence, has a population of 
600,000 to 700,000. 

This proud castellated seat of the British domain in 
North America (latitude 46° 59' 15", longitude 71° VS') 
is situated on and around a bold promontory, on the 
northwest side of the St. Lawrence, with the river St. 
Charles on the northwest, the confluence of the latter 
with the former being at the spacious bay that salutes 
the delighted traveller as he arrives at the wharf at the 
lower town, and terminates his transient steamboat 
connection. 

There does not appear to be any material difference 
in the climate at the present from the earliest times ; 
the winter's cold and summer's heat being both felt to 
the extreme of human endurance, from 30° below zero, 
to 100 above, Fahrenheit's scale. 

The form of the city is triangular, the base, from the 



Public Edifices, etc. in Quebec, 227 

St. Lawrence on the south, one mile across the plains 
of Abraham, north to the St. Charles River, being the 
banlieu, or southwest limit of the city, and the two rivers ? 
as above stated, and meeting at the northeast point of 
the town, forming the sides and the apex, the entire cir- 
cuit being 3 miles. 

The Quebec Exchange and Library, and Reading- 
room, presents itself, immediately on landing, to the no- 
tice of the stranger, and is situated at the east end of 
St. Paul-street ; the ground, that covers 10,000 super- 
ficial feet, cost £1,000. It is a neat edifice, -of cut 
stone. The reading-room in the second story is 50 
feet long, 80 wide, 16 high, and from the windows is a 
complete view of the basin and river. The Library 
and Board of Trade are in the room above ; the Ex- 
change below, where merchants most do congregate. 

Not far from the Exchange is the Trinity House, in 
St. Peter-street, a corporate body for the regulation of 
the pilots of the river. In the vicinity of the Exchange 
many large new warehouses have recently been con- 
structed, and wharves made on land recently redeemed 
from the water. 

The King's Wharf is the place of embarkation and 
landing of the troops, and for the use of the army and 
navy officers, governor, &c. Here is the storehouse of 
the Commissariat department, of stone, 250 feet long, 
the whole under the protection of a guard in a house 
adjacent. 

The Custom House, adjoining the foregoing premises, 
is a plain stone edifice, well adapted and convenient, 
and the public or long room is worth examination. 

There was a barrier in former times nearly opposite the 
custom-house, where the passages diverge, one to the 
steps leading to the upper town, and the other to the 
harbour; and near this Gen. Montgomery was killed, De- 
cember 31, 1775. An iron ring in the precipice near 
by, formerly used in mooring ships, may also aid to dis- 
tinguish the spot where he fell. 

The inclined plane of 500 feet long, leading to the 



228 Fortifications on Cape Diamond. 

citadel from the lower town, may here be seen within 
a short distance, and also, in a furlong, the place of dif- 
ficult ascent from the river, up the steep hill, to the 
plains of Abraham, by which the brave, undaunted, and 
immortal General Wolfe, and the British troops, crept 
and scrambled up to the summit of the heights, and es- 
tablished themselves in line to receive the attack of the 
French, under Montcalm, that resulted in the death of 
the latter in 1759, and the prostration of French power 
in Canada. 

Besides the plane, with the machinery at top, work- 
ed by steam, drawing up large trucks and masses of 
stone, cannon, stores, and all heavy weights, on the 
rail-way, from the water's edge to the summit of Cape 
Diamond, there is a separate path of 600 steps, that 
leads from the upper to the lower town. 

Cape Diamond is a mass of dark slate, containing 
limpid quartz crystals, in veins, with crystalized carbon- 
ate of lime — hence the name it bears. 



Fortifications on Cape IHainond.; 

The entrance to the Citadel, that is 200 feet higher 
than the rock or ground that sustains the upper town, 
is by a winding road through the acclivity of the glacis 
from St. Louis' Gate, that is on the southwest, and to- 
gether with St. John's Gate, has out-works of the great- 
est strength and combination. This leads into the ex- 
terior ditch of the ravelin, and then into the principal 
ditch, between walls of solid masonry to the right 
and left. 

This fortress combines every invention of science and 
precaution of art that consummate skill and ingenuity 
could suggest for the protection and security of the city 
and garrison. The area of the space and works within 
the citadel alone is 40 acres. The fortifications are 
continued around the upper town in bastions and lofty 
curtains of solid masonry, and ramparts of 25 to 30 feet 



Governor's Garden. 229 

high, and of equal thickness, bristling with heavy can- 
non, round towers, loop-holed walls, and massive gates 
at intervals. 

The city, that is defended on the land side by its 
ramparts, has on the other a lofty wall and parapet, 
based on the cliff, beginningnear the River St. Charles 
at the Artillery Barracks. These were erected by the 
French in 1750. They are of stone, two stories high, 
600 feet long and 40 wide, with a garden and ap- 
purtenances, that denote comfort and neatness. 

Hard by the Bishop's Palace, that was long used by 
the Provincial Legislature, is the Prescott Gate and 
guard-house, and under its massive arch is the great 
thoroughfare between the upper and lower towns, cal- 
led Mountain-street. It is protected on both sides, and 
by works that connect it with the Castle of St. Louis ; 
the stone rampart or wall formed part of that building, 
aided by buttresses, founded on the solid rock 200 feet 
above the lower town. 

The Governor's Garden, on terraces, is on the south- 
west of the ruins of the castle, and is 540 feet by 210, 
and has also in it a small battery. In front of the gar- 
den the fortifications are continued for 900 feet, until 
they reach the foot of the glacis, or hill, towards 
Cape Diamond, crowned at that point by the round 
tower, and the British flag proudly triumphant 

As to the extent of the ramparts on the land side, 
from the southwest angle of the citadel to the cliff, 
above the River St. Charles, they are, according to 
Bouchette, 5,511 feet, or 221 feet over a mile. Within 
this rampart is the Esplanade, a level space 719 feet 
long, and here are mounted the several guards on duty, 
at the citadel and other public places, daily at 11 
o'clock, that every stranger should by all means behold, 
besides other parades of the garrison. The circuit of 
fortifications that enclose the upper town, is two and 
three-quarter miles, and that of the space reserved by 
government, on which no houses can be built on the 
west side, is three miles ; average diameter 4,500 feet. 



230 Ride to Beawport and Montmorenci. 

The castellated appearance of the city, that may be 
said to be entirely surrounded by a strong and lofty 
wall of hewn stone, elegant and durable, its ditches, 
embrasures, round towers, battlements and gates add 
much to its outward effect. 



Ride to fflSeaitport and Mcmtnioreiaci, nine 
miles. 

No traveller of taste should omit majung an early 
visit to this exquisite waterfall. The way to it leads 
out of the northwest side or gate of St. John, through 
the street and extensive and populous suburbs of that 
name, never tiring, or ending and crossing a large 
wooden bridge, the interminable French village is en- 
tered, that presses closely upon the road, and has a 
goodly-looking large church, with a dome of two spires 
coated with tin, bright and dazzling. 

The Chaudiere Falls are four miles above its em- 
bouchure into the St. Lawrence, and nine miles from 
the city. The river rises near Lake Megantic, border- 
ing on th United States, in the chain of highlands 
south of tne St. Lawrence, and has a circuitous course 
of 162 miles, and a breadth of four hundred to six hun- 
dred yards, and a bed so incommoded by rocks as to be 
unfit for navigation. In its descent from the mountains 
it is almost a continual succession of cascades, but at 
the great falls alluded to, the stream is 400 feet wide, 
and falls 130 feet down a chasm wild, irregular, and 
fearfully grand. Masses of rock divide the falls into 
three parts, but they are again concentrated into one 
grand volume ere they reach the receptacle beneath. 
The evergreen foliage of the woods that overhang the 
rocks and river are in fine contrast with the snow-white 
brilliancy of the foaming and roaring waters. The 
most varied and charming effect is produced by the re- 
volving bodies of water and foam issuing from the deep 
globular excavations worn in the rock, and the spray 



Tour of the Connecticut Valley. 231 

and mist that is thrown off reflects in the sunshine pil- 
lars and arches of prismatic colours and rainbow hues 
in perfection. 

Point Levi must be visited en route to the Chaudiere 
if the land route is adopted, though it can be approach- 
ed within a short distance by boats. Notwithstanding 
its nearness to the city, the woods on the banks of the 
river are so impervious as to render a guide requisite 
for all strangers visiting the falls. 

Arnold in his celebrated expedition in 1775, to at- 
tack Quebec, followed up the Kennebec and down the 
Chaudiere to St. Lawrence, 370 miles from Boston. A 
good road extends from Point Levi up the Chaudiere to 
the De Loup settlement, and also one from Kennebec 
to the boundary line. 



Tour of the Connecticut Valley. 

The heart of the New-England States, may be pene- 
trated by a twelve hours steamboat jaunt up to Middle- 
town and Hartford, or via the Sound steamboat to New- 
Haven, there viewing the most attractive neat city, the 
college buildings that contain the most extensive and 
valuable cabinet of minerals in the U. S. ; also the 
Trumball Gallery of pictures and relics of that venera- 
ble artist ; also the extensive Library of Architectural 
and other works of Mr. Ithiel Town, in a neat stone 
building in the vicinity of the Canal that leads to 
Farmington and Northampton ; or by a railroad trip of 
two hours from New-Haven to Hartford, or Springfield 
to see the extensive armoury there ; thence reaching 
Mount Holyoke and Northampton on the Connecti- 
cut, that commands the most admirable rich panoramic 
view ; or by continuing on for 200 miles in the same di- 
rection, to reach the White Mountains of New- 
Hampshire, and pass in the vicinity of Franconia valley 
and the noted huge rocky profile of the old man of the 
mountains. 



232 Tour of the Connecticut Valley. 

Another rapid cheap route also to visit, by steam and 
railroad in a day or two, the most desirable points is 
from New- York, via railroad by Norwich and Worces- 
ter, or from iStonington to Providence and Boston, 
thence to Lowell and Nashua on the Merrimac, in one 
or two hours by railroad and by stage to Amoskeog 
falls, Concord, and onward to Franconia and the Notch. 

Another variation also offers by a branch railroad 
from the preceding at Wilmington, through and passing 
the Theological Seminary at Andover, rich in its endow, 
ments and literary privileges, then to Bradford, Haver- 
hill, Exeter, Dover, or Portsmouth, (thus far by railroad,) 
thence by stages to Alton, at the southern extremity of 
the Wimiipiseogee Lake, and passing over its pure pic- 
turesque mirror-like surface, with its wilderness of 
islands, of every size, to its northern extremity at Mer- 
ry Meeting Bay, or Centre Harbour, thence to Ply- 
mouth and Franconia, and Notch as before, or Con- 
way, either going or returning. 

Three to five days time, at an expense of five to ten 
dollars, will accomplish this most gratifying and cele- 
brated route, the particular details of the same to be 
given hereafter. 

The Profile Mountain is near the road that leads to or 
from Franconia in New-Hampshire, by the foot of the 
Haystack mountain, to Plymouth and Concord, in the 
vale of the Merimac, five miles from the lower iron 
works in Franconia, three miles south of Mount Lafay- 
ette, that is four thousand feet high, and is the northern 
side or boundary of this gorge or depression in the hills. 
The elevation of the Profile mountain is but one thou- 
sand feet. The road passes very near its foot, and the 
mountain rises abruptly at an angle of 80 degrees to the 
bare Profile Rock, that is of granite ; its colour is a dark 
reddish brown from atmospheric exposure. A view of 
the projecting bold delineation, near the peak of the 
mountain, in a northern direction, exhibits in perfection 
the profile of the human face, with every line and feature 



The Profile Mountain. 233 




marked ; but after passing the mountain to the south, 
the likeness is immediately lost. 

The White Mountains, and the lakes and rivers of 
the State of Maine and the ocean inlets that deeply in- 
dent the coast, are the boldest features in the topogra- 
phy of this portion of the United States, worthy of a visit 
in the warm season intervening between May and Oc- 
tober, from the facility of the approach, aided by rail- 
roads and the varied beauties of lake, river, or mountain 
scenery. 

Echoes of a fine description, from the door of the 
Mountain House may be heard by firing a heavy gun or 
sounding a bugle at night. They are prolonged in re- 
verberations softened in the distance, and fading away 
gradually. 



234 Altitudes of Loftiest Mountains. 



Altitudes of the loftiest Peaks of the Whi»*i 
Mountains and others in New-England. 

Above Bases. Sea. 

Mt. Washington, 4,885 6,634 

1st Peak south of do 3,904 5,653 

2d " " do. 3,584 5,333 

3d " " do 3,430 5,179 

4th " " do 3,367 5,P6 

5th <• " do 2,881 4,630 

Base of the Mountain, .... 1 ,749 

Ca tskill Round Top 3,105 3,804 

" HighPeak 3,019 3,718 

Highest part of Turnpike 1,729 2,425 

Base of Mountains ^99 

Killington Peak, Vermont 2,994 3,924 

Base of Mountain 699 

Mansfield Mountain 4,279 

Camel's Rump 4,188 

Ascutney Mt 3,306 

Moose Hillock, N. H 4,636 




Explanation. 

Factories 

jwis 

Forts 
Churches 
Academies 
Com. Roads 
Ikrnpike Hoods ---> 

Scale. 




15 O » T O X, 

iljacenl Country. 



Kxpl a nation. 

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